The Eye Of The Storm

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."  

~Rabindranath Tagore

On Sunday, just as our Yin Yoga class was getting ready to start, a fierce storm blew in.

The storm started off with the distant, rumbling sound of thunder followed by brilliant flashes of lightning.

As we settled into the practice, the wind picked up and the resonance of thunder grew closer. Rain began to sputter against the studio's windows with big plopping sounds.

In the midst of this, we silently held our postures and followed the steady rise and fall of our breath and, from the safety of the cozy studio, listened to the storm grow stronger.

Pretty soon the wind picked up intensity and the rain started coming down hard.  We could hear the vibration of the downpour falling on the metal roof of the building and the now crashing lightning strikes and thunder claps overhead.  And yet we stayed motionless, breathing deeply into our bodies and witnessing our own inner tempests from the shelter of our awareness.

The barrage of rain, wind, thunder and lightning continued to rage outside and it seemed like the more the storm grew in intensity, the quieter the room became.  Near the end of the practice, the thunder moved away into the distance, the wind died down, and the atmosphere became less charged.  That's when the sirens started to sound in the distance and grow closer and closer as they raced toward some unknown storm related emergency.  Pretty soon the wail of sirens faded into the sound of rain falling.  As we came to rest in savasana (corpse pose), the rain stopped and the only sound that could be heard was the passing of cars on the wet pavement on Pelham Drive.  It was amazing.

In Monday's Yin and Flow class, we talked about how the storm was a beautiful metaphor for our yoga and meditation practices.  There are times when the busyness and noise of the mind become thunderous and threatens to overwhelm us.  Our thoughts may often seem to be shrieking around inside our mind like gale force winds.  Our worries, anger or anxiety may cause a deluge of emotions. The storms we encounter in life are unavoidable.  However, how we choose to react to them is.  Just as the class witnessed the fury of the storm from the stillness of the room, when we are balanced and steady within the uproar of physical or mental storms, we can ride them out from the shelter of our own peaceful sanctuary. Observing what is without being tossed around by it.

In Monday's asana practice we explored deep hip openers.  The hips are often where we hold onto a lot of tension and suppressed emotions.  During class we held each pose for 10 breaths (yin poses were held for up to 4 minutes) to practice watching in silence whatever inner tempest showed up. We practiced breathing deeply into the turbulent storm of the mind, following each inhale and exhale into the shelter and sanctuary of inner peace that resides beneath the tumult.  As we moved through the practice, we focused on progressing up the chakras to find balance and calm in the midst of the activity of the mind (chakras are focal points of energy that we use, whether consciously or unconsciously, to affect reality and allow us to fully experience and realize events that unfold before us).  

Below, find Monday's flow for your home practice.

Until next time...

YIN AND FLOW-DEEP HIPS

OPEN:

LAY ON BACK W/BHRAMARI PRANAYAMA (BEE BREATH) THEN CHAKRA AWARENESS MEDITATION 

WARM UPS

HUG KNEES

RECLINING LEG STRETCH W/STRAP (THEN OUT TO SIDE) BOTH SIDES

RECLINING PIGEON-BOTH SIDES 

HUG KNEES ROLL UP TO HANDS AND KNEES

DOWN DOG

DOWN DOG SPLITS-R 

LOW LUNGE-R ARMS UP

PLANK
SLOW CHATURANGA

UPDOG

DOWN DOG

REPEAT-L

STANDING-

WARRIOR I/REACHING WARRIOR-R DYNAMICALLY INTO

REACHING WARRIOR-R

PYRAMID-R 

REVOLVING TRIANGLE-R 

MODIFIED WARRIOR I-R 

PLANK
SLOW CHATURANGA

UPDOG

DOWN DOG

REPEAT-L

DOWN DOG SPLITS-R  INTO

LOW LUNGE-R (HANDS TO FLOOR OR BLOCKS) 3 MINUTES

DRAGON FLYING LOW TWIST-R HANDS OR LEFT FOREARM TO FLOOR 1 MINUTE

SLEEPING PIGEON-R 4 MINUTES

DOWN DOG 
REPEAT-L


LAY ON BELLY W/PRANAYAMA


SAVASANA CAN EITHER BE DONE ON YOUR BELLY OR ON YOUR BACK 


Let The Mind Be The Mind

by Danna Faulds


Let the mind be the mind.
Behind its restless activity,
just one layer deeper
is stillness, and beneath
even that, is an ocean
of mystery and truth.


Swim in this eternal sea
until you know yourself
to be infinity, and bring
that knowing back into
your day.  Why struggle
to be what you are already?


Let the mind be the mind,
but don't bind yourself 
to its limited reality.
Trust your experience of
vastness.  Trust the truth
that never loses potency
or disappears in fear.


Let the mind be the mind
and identify not with
thought, but silence.