Active surrender: Sivasana
For those of you that were wondering if D. and I were still practicing Yoga... the answer is: yes. We are even talking about doing Power Yoga twice a week (I go to a Hatha Yoga class on my own).One of my favourite things about those ninety minutes is the fact that, even though there are a lot of active and challenging poses (those that make you sweat and make your muscles shake), there are also poses where all you do is surrender. A very famous one of them is known as Child's Pose - but that's one of those poses I have never liked, could it be because my back lacks flexibility and my lungs feel compressed? If my stomach was smaller, would my diaphragm expand and allow me to breathe easier?
Sivasana, on the other hand, is a beautiful pose. To the outsider, it looks like something simple, all you do is lie on your back, and let your legs relax. You place your hands at the sides of your body, and turn your palms upward.
Then, you relax. The trick is to balance the surrendering of your body, while remaining completely alert and conscious (therefore the active surrender), it's tricky, you may fall asleep (if you're chronically sleep deprived) or your mind may start running and thinking of all those things that create our daily life.
If you can observe these thoughts, the sensations and emotions that come up, and refrain from engaging in them or reacting to them, then you can take your first step towards non-attachment, a liberating start.
Can you imagine it? Being free of everything?
It looks like a simple pose (after all, you're just lying on the ground) (Linda... should it be lying or laying???) but it's one of the hardest ones, after all, you're challenging your own mind. The first couple of times you probably will be able to remain in Sivasana for less than a minute, before your mind starts running, but with constant practice, and patience (coupled with some lovingkindness) it won't be long before you can meditate for longer stretches of time.
Namaste,
ap
posted by ap @ 8:13 PM
1 Comments:
You were right, m'dear: "lying," not "laying."
Like you, I tend to feel breathless and "compressed" in child's pose; I tend to do it with my knees apart, body dropping to the floor between my legs, to compensate. Although, I must admit, I haven't done any yoga for months now -- spinning is my current meditation, knitting my current obsession (and no, the sock isn't finished yet, but SOON *g*).
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