Yoga – The dance of movement and stillness
Yoga – an experience of wholeness
The purpose of yoga is to make the body conscious – to wake up to the sensitivity and subtlety of your body and the natural peace and intelligence inherent within you. Yoga practice is essentially a preparation for meditation, developing focus, discipline and awareness. Practice can clear the path of the debris, negativity, tensions, toxicity, false conditioning and fears that hinders our access to the still point of our selves, to the place of peace within.
Yoga liberates the holding patterns, the suppression of tension in the body and mind from habits of disassociation and separation that can cause prolonged and needless suffering. Yoga leads us into an experience of wholeness, and a presence of mind supporting our happiness, sanity and inner peace.
Yoga addresses the needs of your body for movement, relaxation and alignment with the needs of your mind for psychological satisfaction and balance. The integration of your body and mind naturally nourishes your emotional well-being, and as one thing leads to another, your spiritual nature, your sense of soul and `belonging` is affirmed in this steady, relaxed inner environment that practice creates. Many physical and mental health problems are caused by the disassociation with our core, fundamental energy and lack of self awareness. Yoga helps us to remember ourselves and give loving attention to our life supporting consciousness.
Hatha Yoga
Yoga practice teaches us the dance of movement and stillness. Movement magnifies the nourishing elements within stillness, and stillness defines the purpose of movement. Hatha Yoga means ha – sun and tha – moon; This can be interpreted as the male and female aspects of practice. Movement is the Sun nature of yoga and can be seen as the male Assertive outgoing side of ourselves that heats up and regenerates energy. Stillness is the Moon nature of yoga, the feminine Receptive reflective side of ourselves that cools down, contains and preserves energy. The principles of Hatha are reflected within all other styles of yoga.
Your body is in constant change, old cells dying and new ones being created moment by moment. Yoga cultivates an attitude of acceptance that allows change to happen with consciousness and without the de-generating struggle of resistance. Acceptance creates a space for change. Each time you practice yoga you will be uniting with this on-going process of transformation. Yoga can give you a direct experience of the ongoing creation of your body as it lives in present time; into a familiar sense of coming home to your undivided self-nature.
Yoga encourages the release of tension
Real change happens when the body and mind are in repose, in a relaxed and receptive state of being. Stillness is not the absence of movement, it is in fact a fertile and gentle environment for encouraging the release of tension, as well as psychological and emotional integration. Stillness is the forerunner of change when your energy is being consolidated and contained. Here your senses draw inwards reversing your vision from the outside in, giving much needed attention to this process.
Within a more long term perspective retreat and hibernation are natural cycles that nurture the birth of something new. Stillness also connects us to the depth of more subtle feelings which are often vibrating at such a high frequency that we require stillness to perceive them. The influence of yoga postures on our inner being become more apparent when we pause to digest and reflect. Just like a boat will leave a wake as it moves through the water, so movement leaves traces in the pool of energy of your body and mind. In the safety of stillness you will be able to accept and integrate the natural transformations arising.
Yoga – moving meditation
Yoga therefore, is a moving meditation drawing on the circulation of Prana, vital life energy, through asanas and breath, restoring balance and equilibrium. Yoga becomes a process of reconciliation. A Body Prayer.
Practice carries you through the portal of your body, into the inner wisdom of your being that may be lying hidden or dormant, awakening your fundamental intelligence and spiritual consciousness. Practice generates qualities of compassion and composure which overflow into your everyday life, touching the very heart of things.
`Acceptance creates a space for change`
About The Author
Jacqualine Herron is a fully qualified Massage and Yoga practitioner located in Bath, Avon. She typically draws clients from the surrounding areas of Corsham, Marksbury, Dunkerton and Lansdown. Visit Jacqualine’s therapy page here or visit her website www.yogicsolutions.com |
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