In class last week, I kept returning to the theme of "beginners mind". For me, the season of Spring heralds not only a fresh beginning (and blessed end to the chill of winter) but also a fresh perspective. This sense of freshness is key I think to yoga as a lifelong practice. As a "yoga teacher", I am not immune to the feelings of stagnation, isolation, even boredom and depression that can arise when I sit on my mat and have to face the "stuff" inside. Not every day is instant inner peace... As I continue to practice yoga, an important and regular part of my practice is learning how to keep cultivating this freshness.
What do you think of when you hear the word fresh? For me, I immediately think of the lemon. Its clean, crisp scent. The light, playful taste that dances and zips across the tongue. How it lightens and transforms even the heaviest dish. I think also of the feel, smell, taste of the early morning air. Freshness has both a quality of spaciousness and also a clarity, or cleanness about it.
On the yoga mat, we can practice finding freshness every time we fully open to the breath--as it is--without expectation, without judgement. With each exhale, we release whatever isn't serving us so that the inhale arises naturally and easily, full of new possibility and potential. We can maintain our clarity, our intention to be present by connecting to our foundation and then softly engaging and hugging to our core. In each pose, we return to the breath, and as we move into and between each posture, we find the place where we feel a sense of spaciousness and freedom. Why choose to be anywhere else?
At the start OR end of your yoga practice, if you find your energy and spirits are still dragging, try lying for 5 to 10 minutes in a heart-opening, supported savasana. Fold a firm blanket in half and then half again, lengthwise. Sitting in front of the long end of your blanket, lay down on your back so that your whole spine is slightly lifted and supported all the way up to the back of the head. If you feel discomfort in the neck or shoulders, add another blanket to lift and support the head. Allow your arms and legs to fall open to the sides and the body to soften and sink into the earth with each exhalation. Without forcing or changing the breath, feel the inhalation expanding your side ribs, spreading and lifting your collarbones, and moving across fronts of the shoulders. Enjoy the feeling of lift and vastness in the heart, each exhale softening the body and mind more and more into your present moment.
