How do you get a more balanced perspective on life and develop equanimity?
You are standing on one leg with your arms raised above your head and feeling very wobbly as your teacher asks you to breathe through the practice…to ground yourself in the supporting leg, to focus your awareness and feel the strength of the pose.
Then one day without realising it you suddenly notice that you are not wobbling anymore. All the conscious effort in the practice evaporates and the pose seems to flow smoothly as you maintain your awareness on your breath. What has caused this transformation? How have you been able to ward off the wobbles?
Through balancing asana you develop physical balance but also a mental and emotional balance. The strength required in these poses develops a strength of will. You know that you are supported and consequently you know that no matter what life throws at you…. ..you will manage it.
The steady breathing required to maintain the pose is exactly the same steady breathing you need when faced with the ups and downs of life. All too often we panic when things start to get difficult …we breathe shallowly and allow the mind to race off predicting the future or reliving the past rather than staying present. It is the balancing poses in particular that teach us to be present. (you may have noticed that you become wobbly all over again if you let your mind drift and the awareness is lost). To balance successfully you need to feel your whole body, to focus the awareness, to breathe steadily and ground yourself into the supporting leg.
If you are interested in exploring balancing asana a bit more here are a couple of useful links:
Beechworth Yoga 