The colours are looking beautiful here in Beechworth at the moment as we head into term 2 of yoga classes. I think of this term as a time of settling in to the cooler mornings, the evenings getting darker and preparing us for the winter months ahead. It is a time of reflection and also a time to rest after the heat and busyness of the warmer weather and long evenings.
Yoga is often more about the rest between practices and poses than the poses themselves. It gives us time to observe any changes in the physical body, our thoughts and/or our emotions. There is the chance to deepen your awareness of the effects of practices.
We all come to yoga to stretch, to relieve tension, to relax and perhaps heal in some ways both on a physical and emotional level so these rest times are a very important part of the process. It is not simply a matter of banging through a number of poses, a few breathing exercises and a relaxation practice. It is about developing that inner awareness of what each practice can reveal.
Often the reveal might simply be “gee my right shoulder has been really tight lately” or it may be something along the lines of “every time I focus on my breathing I feel a lot calmer” or even something deeper like “those hip opening postures made me want to cry today”. Each time we can pause to reflect or allow the practice to do its work we discover a little more about our bodies and ourselves. As we know yoga is not just about the shape and state of your body but also about the shape and state of your life.
We often hold a lot of tension in the hips and hip opening poses like pigeon pose or gecko pose help to release that tension. Similarly shoulder opening through shoulder circles, threading the needle and the double angle pose can release the tightness that comes from feeling you are carrying a load on your shoulders.
I love those little pauses in shashankasana (pose of the child), parvartasana ( mountain pose or you may know this as downward dog) and simply resting in shavasana (corpse pose) and I hope you can enjoy them too. Perhaps this is really the slow yoga ..the tasting bits and noticing what is happening. I always like to finish my classes with the students pausing for a brief moment to reflect on any changes in how they are feeling physically mentally and emotionally. Not in a judgmental way but in a curious way.
Let me know what you think about those pauses and what you notice after your yoga class. I look forward to seeing some of you on the mat next week.
Beechworth Yoga 