Let's Grow Yoga
Our breath, our best friend, always with us, our life force. Take a minute to notice the fluidity and subtlety of your breath right now, before reading any further.
Inhale a new, sweet breath of fresh air. Let it fill your whole body and let it feel cleansing, like a spring breeze reaching every corner of your physical being.
And now...Go on…SIGH IT OUT! Exhale audibly. Hear your breath leave your body. Feel your breath leave your body. Let it go! We have made it through winter. We have made it through a long and difficult year. As we spring forward, we can all agree that our breath is a gift not to be taken for granted.
There is such truth in the saying that “we grow through what we go through.” We have all grown so much this past year, even though we have most likely felt stuck at times?
Practicing yoga with the students at Mountain Sun is always such a treat. We are blessed with the opportunity and outdoor space to slow down, connect with nature, connect with ourselves, our breath, our bodies, and our community. Nature inspires us and helps us focus on awareness. We often mimic nature in the poses we create with our bodies. Our breathwork, our shapes, our meditations repeatedly reflect themes in nature. Naturally in this season ahead, we will embrace the experience of spring during our yoga classes, full of metaphors and golden little nuggets to take off of the mat, all while we go inward, take time to be with ourselves, and grow.
From winter into spring we must trust the wait, trust the uncertainty, and then we get to enjoy the beauty of becoming alive. The inevitable spring fling will occur. This year especially, we have learned through extenuating circumstances that nothing is certain, however spring always reminds us that anything is possible! Winter gives us time to think, dream, set goals. Spring is the time to manifest and grow these intentions. Spring brings to life amazing little miracles of budding and blooming. It is the season that shows us that LIFE is not only a work in progress, but a gorgeous masterpiece all at once.
Let us all set intentions. I encourage our students to choose a character, a quality, a virtue that they want to see, feel, be more of. Let’s simplify that…your intention can be like a seed of potential. Afterall, it all starts with a seed. Our thoughts become actions, our actions become habits, our habits shape our character, our essence. The seed becomes the oak. When setting our intention, we keep in mind that we will reap what we sow.
We can liken this to a garden we plant in the spring. With one seed at a time, we are able to create a magnificent garden. Imagine a beautiful and colorful garden full of your favorite flowers, herbs, bulbs, vegetables…then slow the imagination down. Gardens are a process, they take time and creativity, they have to be nurtured and cared for at the right time. Our lives are like gardens. All gardens have weeds and difficulties that we learn to work with. We sit with them and we pull them. Over time we become okay with them, we know how to deal with them and we know when we need to let them go.
Spring Grow and Flow Sequence:
In this particular practice, our students start in ‘seed pose’ as they think of an intention. I give them a moment to quietly consider that we don’t know what our neighbors’ intentions are, what they hope to grow. We spend a moment sending quiet encouragement to our fellow gardeners around us so that their seeds, too, will bloom in time. I give everyone a sticky note to jot down their ‘virtue’ and they fold it up to be collected. During the practice, we come back to our personal intention, back to our seed, give it our attention.
A spring sequence here at MSCS could include some of the following:
Seed Pose with knees to chest, hugging yourself with love…set your intention
Easy Seat with Bees Breath
Easy Seat with Robins Breath
Child’s Pose
Thunderbolt with arms lifting towards the sun and raining back to earth
Camel Pose to shine your heart
Sun Salutation
Forward Fold - slowly unraveling like a seedling or sapling reaching up towards the sun...imagine a fiddlehead
Mountain Pose
Tree Pose
Crescent Moon
Eagle Pose or Warrior Three - bird taking flight with soaring wingspan
Butterfly
Tortoise Pose
Lotus or Half Lotus with Lotus Mudra
Seed Pose with knees to chest, hug yourself with love…
Resting Pose - always a favorite!
Our collective, well-meaning seeds will surely take root, especially if we continue to nurture them. I end this class by sharing anonymously the different sticky note virtues that our friends plan to cultivate. Some examples are love, hope, kindness, peace, confidence, patience, resilience, strength, adventure, light, compassion. What a GORGEOUS GARDEN!
Please consider taking a little time to practice with your child. What is your seed? ‘Tis the season to be____________. Let’s grow together!
Peace, Paz, Shanti...Ole ole, Namaste.
Written by Clare Desmelik, Yoga Instructor
