Show some restraint
Maybe it’s because I have tight hips and shoulders; maybe it’s because I was born at the dawn of the 1970’s, when all sorts of boundaries were dissolving; maybe it’s because the notion of liberation, moksha, which is the promise of a dedicated yoga practice seems so expansive to me… I tend to think of Yoga as opening. Physical practice unlocks what’s stuck. Meditation quiets the mind enough to reach outside of the individual brain. Breath unites all beings.
I stand by all of this. I teach it all the time. I love it with all of my heart. But it’s only part of the story.
Yoga is always a balance, neti neti, or “not thus, not thus”- not just one thing. While the practices of Yoga help us reach beyond our perceived physical, emotional, and energetic limits, they simultaneously draw us inward to what we end up calling the True Self, purusha, the spirit. This light in the heart referenced in my last post is what I’m talking about. The “bliss body,” anadamayakosha, which is shaded by four other layers of the self is the same thing.
So how do you keep this balance? How can you be sure to pull energy, prana, inward as it spirals out? Try closing the eyes or focusing the gaze. Try truly cultivating ujaii breath (not just breathing loud!). Try imagining energy moving both in and out of your fingers, your lungs, your hamstrings… Practice yama and niyama. Try to maintain equanimity, staying in your breath in the moment, not striving beyond what your body or mind allow, and not shying away from the extent of your ability.
In other words, show some restraint!
