How I’ll start tomorrow’s class maybe. I got stuck writing in french on paper. So i’ll write in english and stream of conscious write.
Let’s begin by sitting on a block, with your legs straddling the block and the middle of the block somewhere around the heels. Lift off your calves and run your thumbs down the middle of your calves as your thighs sit back down on them. Take the skin of the sit bones and take it to the sides. Take as well the skin of your knees and pull it slightly forward and up.
Let your right hand gently hold your left hand, both open, and the hands gently held as if holding a butterfly. This action will engage a lift in your shoulders and support the chest.
Introduce a sweet smile. Nothing exaggerated, but sweet. Encourages a lift in the back of the throat.
Smile with your eyes. Although they are closed, hold an intention of smiling in them.
Bita (the owner of the studio) has chosen the theme of peace for the month of January. So where do we find peace, or introduce it in a yoga practice?
I have no idea. But, I know where I feel I’m starting to be at peace, at ease, starting to find peace. For me, this is in silence, in stillness. Stillness, not stiffness.
In fact, stiffness is where I first feel not at ease.
Stiffness is stagnant puddles, breeds insects and rot.
Stillness is a lake in the morning, seemingly motionless, but with ripples from the wind, the impact of itself against the shore, from the fish that swim within, the insects that walk on its surface.
I see stillness and silence first in breath. We breathe in. At the top of the inhale, feel a small pause, a moment of weightlessness as we fall into the exhale, and then again a moment of freedom at the end of the exhale as we float into the inhale. A circular breath, free falling and floating at the top and bottom.
Explore with the shape of your sitting posture. Move forward, move backwards, really move backwards. Feel stillness, feel the changes, how does this change the breath? A sense of movement is not a sense of weakness or a lack of concentration. A rooted tree sways in the wind, not only its leaves but its trunk. It must to avoid breaking. We must feel a sense of freedom in our bodies when we breathe, to avoid stagnation and encourage exploration of the breathe into our bodies.
