"And the day came when the risk to remain
tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anaïs
Nin
Assuming that this is true
and there are risks inherent in opening ourselves up, what are they?
Vulnerability, softening, opening, exposure, fear of failure were some that my
students brought up this week in classes. One student suggested "You might get plucked!"
No one wants to be plucked! And like Marianne Williamson says, it is our light not our darkness that scares us the most. So knowing that some or all of these risks have to be taken on to
blossom to our fullest potential, then we need to explore what would make it
safe for us to take these risks. Courage, strength, and faith were the most predominant answers. In my life the thing that gives me the most
support, that helps me to tap into courage and strength, is my family and
community.
Years ago a friend shared
with me the story of her wedding. She got married in New Orleans and there is
an awesome tradition there of what they call the "second line".
Basically, they hire a band to walk behind the bride and groom, and the
rest of the wedding guests follow behind waving handkerchiefs, dancing, singing
and celebrating, and it becomes a parade.
Even bystanders wanting to can join in the celebration. I love the
idea of blossoming into a new chapter with your loved ones cheering you on -
it’s like all your friends and family "have your back" as you begin your
new life. If I ever renew my wedding vows I am totally doing it in New
Orleans! Wouldn’t it be great if we
could start a “second line” tradition for all our major life events – a new job
or career path, graduating high school, college, having a baby, moving? In a way, our yoga practice does this for us.
In yoga your back body
represents many things - one of them is your past, all that's behind you. All your ancestors, your experiences, your
teachers, friends who’ve come and gone, all the things that have helped to
shape you into the person you are. Some
of these people are still with us, and some have passed on either out of our
lives or out of their earthly bodies, it doesn’t really matter. When we invoke our “second line” by staying
connected to our back body through breath and awareness, we are invoking the
feelings of strength, courage, faith, ease (plug in any other quality here)
that they evoked in us and that in itself helps us to remember that we
ourselves are capable and can choose to blossom into life that we desire. When connect
to these feelings we open our hearts more readily and blossom more radiantly
into the person we aspire to become. We
become, as we say in our invocation, niralambaya
tejase - radiant and illuminated in who we are, without need of support
from anything outside ourselves.
So even if it was your
“second line” that helped give you strength or courage or faith to take a risk,
acknowledge that YOU were still the one ultimately that took that risk and
blossomed. Now take a breath and finish
this line “I am blossoming into…..”
Off the mat:
My friend Silvia Mordini
offers this contemplation:
Think back to your original
intention for starting yoga? How have you seen this intention blossom and
evolve, what parts of it are still in today's intention for living and loving
your life? It is essential we see where we came from to better appreciate how far
we've come. And you have come very far. We keep awakening ourselves to
ever more amazing inner radiance each day of our practice.
We are always evolving in
the direction of happiness, all that we need to do is not block the flow
forward. And when we feel our “second line” behind us, either real or
invoked, it helps move us in that direction. So there is no reason to wait to be happy or
more loved or more cheerful. BLOSSOM NOW NOT LATER. This isn't a
rehearsal for your life. Spring doesn't say, ok let me hold back and I'll do
this next year. Nope, Spring goes for it NOW. Just like we must do
too.
On the mat:
To help embody these ideas
more fully, work into backbends in your practice this week with a strong Shoulder
Loop. The actions of Shoulder Loop start in the upper palate (where the hard and soft palate meet) moving it towards the back body, travels down to move
the head of the arm bones (what most people refer to as the “shoulder”) back
while moving the bottom tips of the shoulder blades forward in a circular loop or motion. When the head moves back and out of the way, we can lead with our hearts. It’s like your “second line” is pushing the
bottom tips shoulder blades forward encouraging your heart to lift and blossom
open. Do some deep shoulder openers as
warm ups, for example practice Bhujangasana (cobra pose) with a strap around
the bottom tips of your shoulder blades – have a friend lovingly pull the strap
forward while using their feet to press the tops of your shoulders back. Work into deep lunges and thigh stretches and
then blossom yourself into Ustrasana (camel), Dhanurasana (bow), Camatkarasana
(which we commonly call wild thing, but a more poetic, flowery translation
reads “the ecstatic unfolding of the enraptured heart.”), towards full Eka Pada
Rajakapotasana.
Open To Grace: Stand courageously and take the risk to open yourself. When we take the
risk to open, we have the opportunity to experience the incredible beauty of
life more fully.
Breathe into your back body
and feel everyone who “has your back”.
Muscular Energy: Firm your muscles to embrace your vulnerability.
Tone your muscles to feel strong
in your ability to take a risk.
Shoulder Loop: Engage with all who have your back by engaging your shoulder blades
onto your back.
Feel the support of all
those who came before pressing your SB forward so you can open your heart more
easefully.
Press the bottom tips of the
shoulder blades forward and flower your heart open courageously
Inner Spiral: Blossom the sit bones open.
Widen your inner thighs and
open yourself even in your vulnerable places.
Outer Spiral: Scoop your tailbone and tone your low belly with courage and conviction
your capacity to bloom and flourish.
Scoop your tailbone to feel
the support of your lower abdominals and all those who support you.
Organic Energy:
Blossom out of your tight
little bud and into the pose and the person you aspire to become.
Like a rose, unfurl the
beauty of your heart as you expand into the pose.
