Just Breathe...Out!

I was so grateful to receive this email from Nischala Joy Devi:

1:34 Slow, Easeful Exhalations can be used to Restore and Preserve Balance


Rhythmical breathing allows the mind and emotions to return to their natural state of equilibrium.

This is her interpretation of the Yoga Sutra 1.34. I wasn't breathing so well, having just spent 15 very uncomfortable minutes with a guy at the laundromat* who insisted on telling me about all the women and girls in the area who had been raped and assaulted. In fact, he said the word rape so many times, I was starting to feel quite twitchy. I would have left, but had to wait for my laundry to finish. Needless to say, I had to stop and take a few deep breaths, and a few more deep exhales, once I escaped!

Thank you for the reminder, Ms Devi!

*Still waiting for my furniture to arrive, and with it, my beloved washing machine. Sigh. Soon.

What's your favourite?

Ah, it seems there are some among us who like eagle pose (yes Shula, garudhasana!) The 'back breathers' among us,seem to have no problem compressing the front of their lungs, while those of use who only breathe into the front of our lungs, well, we like Other Poses more.

As the ever erudite Katnip says,

We can’t see the back of the body. Its harder to feel. Its like the dark side of the moon. Is it really there? From the symbolic perspective, its our shadow side. Kind of scary to breathe into the shadow side -huh?

Natarajasana Pose (Dancers Pose), originally uploaded by the silent k.

Now I am really curious: since the March theme for WoYoPracMo is Grounding, standing balances seem rather appropriate. For me anyway. I know what my faves are, but what are yours?




To quote YogaMum:

For March, I invite you to think about the theme of "Grounding" and apply it to your yoga practice. In late winter, plants send down roots, to establish a deep foundation that will support blossoming and growth in the spring. We can do this kind of grounding in our yoga practices as well -- whether by concentrating on the rooting aspects of the physical asanas (working on the foundation of standing poses, for example) or by thinking about what we might need in our lives to "ground" and stabilize our practice. For myself, February was a bit of an unsettled month, and I look forward to spending some time reestablishing the roots of my practice.

I feel the same: this move to Melbourne has me feeling like the rug has been pulled out from under my feet. In a good way, but bumpy and unbalanced nonetheless.

I'm looking forward to the poll results - some ideas for my practice and teaching! As always, I love hearing what you think, most especially if you think differently to me: it reminds me why there are so many permutations of yoga - because everyone requires their own uniques solution!