If we were to boil down all our actions, thoughts and deeds into two categories they would be those of love and fear. Are you doing that high powered yoga because you love it or because you want to burn calories for fear of putting on weight? Are you practicing yoga because you think you have to or because it awes you? How about your job or relationship, do you stay in them or leave them because they may not be anything better or because they are the physical ways you transmit your love. Love is expansive, fear is stagnant and contracting. Fear leaves you very stuck unable to go either way.
I experienced fear first hand this week with the thought that an upcoming course I had booked on was suddenly too hard, too far away, too different. The course was my ticket out of my comfort zone of food, family and familiarity. Fear was telling me don’t go, don’t do it.
In Chinese Traditional Theory fear is the negative dominant emotion that manifests in the kidneys. When the energy that flows through kidney meridians and also resides in the organ itself becomes blocked or sluggish we may find ourself unable to make choices or move forward. Everything can seem difficult, we may experience anxiety, our body may throb or feel stiff in the lower back region.The positive correlating emotion of the kidney is wisdom.
When we practice yin we have a chance to sit quietly with ourselves and examine our thought patterns. When we have a negative or fearful thought and don’t examine it or challenge it our brains take it up and our minds believe it.
Practice for this week. In your quiet practice take time to examine some of the thoughts that bind you to fear.We can be anxious about lots of things, people, money, heights, new places. Are these thoughts real? Where would you be without them? If we stare hard enough at our fears you might just find they weaken and are replaced by wisdom, replaced by love.
Sequence ( stressing inner leg lines ) 1 hour
Butterfly
Saddle ( alot of my student's found this difficult so make sure you have blocks and blankets and alternatives)
Sphinx/Seal
1/2 Dragonfly or legs up the wall
dragonfly seated or dragonfly on wall
stirrup ( use strap if needed)
Childs
Meditation on thought observation
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