Reflecting on Summer
What have we been exploring over the last block of yoga sessions leading to the end of Summer?
Balance - Cultivating balance has been at the core of this block. Juggling all of the roles we play in life, all of things on our to do lists and everything else is hard to maintain balance especially in looking after yourself! Physically noticing the weight in the body and the interaction with gravity, playing with some balancing movements/ postures, transferring the sense of balance within; noticing if we feel balanced or unbalanced and using our practice to bring an overall feeling of equanimity.
Visualisation - Colour of Calm - Making your visualisation personal to you.. I’d love to know what colour your colour of calm was? Did it change each week? Connecting the colour to the observation of the movement of air and the breath adds to our breath awareness as well as the benefit of visualisation. The visualisation always bring in our practice of Dharana (to focus consciousness of a single object, idea or place) by giving you something else internally to direct your awareness to when you notice it’s wandered.
We had also implemented a lot of flowing, circular motions in the last few weeks. I wanted to add some elements that represent water after spending my last little break by the Northumberland coast & to link with the philosophy aspect. Thinking about the qualities of water, all the different bodies of water, the way it moves, how it makes you feel whilst adding some vocabulary to tie this in.. the wave of your breath, the ebb and flow, how the breath ripples through the body, let the thoughts flow..
As the foundations of my practice and teachings are rooted in philosophy, the cultivation of balance within & water aspect has come from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali yoga philosophy book:
1.12- abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodah - The states of mind are stilled by practice & dispassion - It discusses how the stream of the mind can flow two ways; towards its upliftment or towards its downfall; analogising the mind to a river. How we have integrated this into our practice: the noticing of our thoughts and not getting carried away into the thought stream, not resisting but building on our awareness in bringing ourself back to being present, to our colour of calm, to the wave of our breath.
Physically, we have started to bring in the chair as an additional prop and way to experience different shapes and postures. Keeping a mix of standing, sitting, lying… we will gradually start to implement more chair and lying down into our practice as we move towards winter. It’s important to add the right amount to acknowledge the change in seasons and continue to bring balance to reset our nervous systems. And another addition of Samavrtti (equal breathing) has been in some of our weeks too.
The next block will bring a new theme from what I have been leaning towards and practising…
You can join me for weekly in-person classes in Comberbach and Hartford, and also from your home with my Gentle Mat & Chair live online classes.
1-to-1 and Corporate classes are also available.