November 10th, 2009 | Author: Rafael
It is amazing to see how everyone’s energy affect a yoga class. From an instructor’s perspective it is very nice to see the mind being so clearly affected by the body and breath. Time after time I see people being affected by taking the time to celebrate their connection to their physical body. I am affected by my breath and physical body.
I do not know if it is just reflexes, or a second nature from years of practice. We sat down after class and talked about with one student after class about ujjayi pranayama (breathing). This is the breath that sounds like “Darth Vader”. This breath consists of closing the back of the throat, with lips touching, mouth closed, and feel the air swirling in the mount and back of throat, as in a yawn. The simple sound of the breath and the focusing the mind into the “feeling it”, creates this intense liberating feeling inside out. The mind has no other choice than to listen in. The senses quiet down, the body intensifies its energy and vitality. The whole system starts bringing energy from the abdomen upwards. This brings attention to the abdominal cavity and its muscles, its breath, its own bandha in the first chakra, in the pelvic area.
As I was explaining this, my entire body went into a sense of meditation and introspection. It was amazing to see how a breath may affect the intensity of our own energy. It was almost like opening a door, and an invitation to the depth of my body.
Yoga does that for me. Makes my body react in such an intense sense of looking in. What I find is amazing, ok, most of the time. If I simply let my self look into paramatman, the Divine waiting to be rediscovered in us. It is not us, it is that connection to the Divine living inside. It is that section of us that we recognize and acknowledge in a namaste. This only makes me humble to see that when we listen in, we can hear God inside. When we sit down, with devotion, with gratitude and love, we can feel the Divine inside. Not because He/She is inside of us, but because He/She is also inside of us. Many times, we say in class that yoga is moving meditation. Yoga really gives us chance to people that have so much going outwardly, to use the body. The body is honored through each move, each pose, each breath, as a temple for the spirit. This way we can connect to the Divine also living inside of each of us. That I see in every face after class…
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Just wanted to comment on the superb selection of some very profound words. The home page states Mary Ann Williamson’s wisdom,”your playing small doesn’t serve the world.”
Haven’t we all felt small and disempowered sometime? Well, I have. I would like to remember, at a time like this, that the universe has a special combination for our unique selves, and yoga helps break that combination. I know this yoga center does, every time. So thanks for your words, and thanks for the moving meditation (our instructor’s words)every minute of class time. In this class, each one counts and no one needs to feel, er, small!
That is the challenge! How can we negotiate our way through life, and be present enough to live it fully, fullfiling our mission…?
I hope I can remember such wisdom throughout the little challenges of the day, some so subtle they can’t even be called challenges, just bad mental habits really. I relax on the mat and give it all I’ve got. How to do the same in life?? That’s my question!