Allowing Energy to Flow

My last workshop was about learning the correct alignment so as to ensure your students are not going to injure themselves and to ensure that they get the most out of their practices. Something really shifted in this class for me and has continued to smash me in the face regularly since.

We have all been to gyms and studios where the focus of the yoga session is on the asanas and little on the breath, asanas being utilised as a workout. I’ve also, for a long time heard it said, and thought of asanas as a moving meditation. I like that. My ex husband was good at that. He did Ashtanga yoga and he did it almost daily. He was a machine and I would see him move through the series and when he was in his flow it was beautiful. His breath would be aligned with each movement and sometimes it looked like her had left his body he would be in such a meditative state. I never felt I could get there because I never felt strong enough, my body never seemed to have the strength to support it self and so I spent my time concentrating rather than breathing. With different types of yoga I have felt that meditative state over the years and it’s been beautiful place to be in my practice.

In this workshop though, I saw something completely different. I saw, like a clear vision right in front of my eyes that the asanas are designed to unblock our energy flow. While ensuring the correct posture in the poses prevent injuries, the real reason for the correct alignment is to enable that energy to flow directly through the body. As soon as I saw this, my hands turned on (I am a Reiki channel) and began to send healing energy through to the woman I was partnering with. I could see through my third eye where the energy was pooling and blocked in her body, I could see it in mine. It was quite an experience, and it was noticeable to people around me.

What is interesting about this is that I have been reading a book about yoga with people with a disability and how to assist people who have very different bodies to mine, move through a sequence. In reading this book I saw, and intellectually understood about asanas & energy flow. I even had a long conversation with a colleague whose body is shaped very differently to mine as a result of Cerebral Palsy about this. But it wasn’t until I was in the class and I saw it with my own eyes – I actually saw the energy in the woman’s body and had a direct experience with it, that it became concrete in my knowing.

Since then, my practice has been a bit slack …. But even so, when I do practice, I’m having a very different experience. I’m usually quite flexible, but sometimes now I can hardly touch my toes, but I can see where the energy is pooled and blocked. I work on it and align myself correctly and allow it to flow again.This is having wonderful benefits and it seems far reaching – the consciousness about what goes into my body is changing (it’s been pretty “unconscious” recently – see here). The way I see the world is affected – seeing the world tends to be brighter and clearer after I practice this way – it actually changes the way in which I see the world. I have a yearning for clarity and ease. There is an overwhelming sense of beauty.

I’m still struggling with making myself get out of bed in the cold and do it, I’m still fighting all my human machinery and my ever present ego, but each time I have the experience of energy flow I feel further connected.

Put one foot in front of the other.

xox