Tuesday 5 April 2011

Honouring the past, welcoming the future

In yoga we have these things called Samskaras. They're like grooves in the body that we default to when under stress, kinda like being stuck in a rut. The cool thing is that we can create new grooves, by seeing our current Samskaras and knowing that we can take steps to let go of what no longer serves and create new impressions.

The Tantra wouldn't say that Samskaras are bad or wrong. Infact, if they weren't there, we wouldn't know that we needed to create new impressions so they can serve as a catalyst rather than a barrier.

There are loads of times during the year to make these changes: new year, new moon, new week, new day, new hour, new second. Infact, as yogis, we're constantly managing changes to navigate all the storms and waves which move us about. Thing is, when we let go of the assumption that we can hold on to anything permanently, we find ourselves free to do anything.

Dr. Douglas Brookes says that we are so inherently free that we are only bound by what we choose to bind ourselves to. So when we come at the world with a sense of freedom and possibility, we change our default from contraction to expansion, then things look a whole lot different.

When I put this on my mat it’s all about hip openers. We hold so much of our emotions in our hips and by opening them with grace and awareness we start to recognize our holding patterns and begin to be able to see a move through them. It’s very cool.

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