July. The apex of summer. Shorts are short. Temperatures are hot. We are everywhere and nowhere. We are laughing, loving, and (re)connecting. There is much movement around us and within us. Everything is happening right now and all at once. There are so many moving parts.
Things, people, and places have quite literally opened back up. With the reopening of life, I am experiencing other doors opening within me. It’s as if there sits pandora’s box, the lid is lifted and out flies a storm of emotions. The commotion of feelings – excitement, trepidation, fatigue – a tidal wave of sensation being sensational. Suddenly, after doing so little or after so much isolation, we are being tossed and turned into new (yet oddly familiar) territory.
I wonder…
How do we find calm within chaos?
How do we fly free while holding ground?
How do we cool ourselves down when the heat is overwhelming?
We practice. If we are feeling so much in one dimension or feeling too much of one emotion, can we remind ourselves that everything has an opposite? There is a yin to a yang, an up to a down, and a left to a right. We are not one thing, one way, one thought, we are multi-dimensional.
In yoga, we play with this duality and dimensionality. We can heat ourselves up or cool ourselves down. We can be filled with effort in one moment and in the next ease. If we are lost in our mind, we can redirect our energy into being found in our body. We can feel both the urgency and the mesmerizing tranquility of being equally strong and supple, extrovert and introvert, effort and grace, winter and summer. We can feel our edges to find our center.
ToolBox 🧰
Nadi Shodhana Breathwork
Breath to calm down, slow down, cool down, and sooth
Sit comfortably (cross legged, virasana, in a chair)
Left hand – can fall to your lap, palm up or down
Right hand- tuck your index and middle finger towards your palm, place thumb in front of right nostril and ring finger in front of left nostril.
Take a deep breath in and out of both nostrils.
To begin-
Close right nostril as you inhale threw the left, close left and exhale through the right, now inhale through the right, close the right and exhale out the left. This is one complete set.
Repeat 4 more times.
Inspiration Station
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