Know Thyself and Be Free
Summer greetings, dear community!
I have been enjoying a couple solo camping trips to my local state parks, social distancing and doing a lot of swimming and cold splashing in my outdoor shower to cool down in this warm Vermont summer. How about you??
The title for this week’s journal post is from my Sivananda Yoga practice. I have been attending a community class online which I am so grateful for in this time of Covid-19. I have been practicing on the deck outside in the early morning, and today’s practice was exceptional!
The Sivananda practice is a set of asanas, and without mindfulness it can become routine. So there are many opportunities and prompts to reflect inward and become mindful of what you are doing, how it feels after doing a posture or pranayama, especially when lying down into shivasana, the resting pose.
The instruction is to take shivasana, the resting pose as your sacred space and feel what the asanas do for your body, spirit, mind. Know thyself and be free.
Today, as I was led into deep reflections on how my whole body and spirit were feeling, pausing at length to give time to reflect, a beautiful fluttering butterfly came to rest on my hand….it felt like the spirit of Nature herself was resting with me, saying “yes, this is it”. Have you felt that way as well when you give yourself time to be totally in the moment with body, mind and soul? There is such beauty in being present and aware. I am so grateful in these times.
The photo above is the butterfly which landed on me, a Holly Blue butterfly, a very magical being! These tiny butterflies are an ethereal, Virgin-Mary blue and they dance lightly through the air, stopping occasionally at flowers to take nectar. This one, this morning, took a sip of me.
It is when we slow down and find space in all that we are doing, and all that is happening in the world right now, that the magic is apparent and can be so healing.
Summertime is the Pitta season, according to Ayurveda, the season of heat, of digestion (which is heat in our digestive systems and heat in our minds to digest food and nutrients, and also the issues of the day!). This heat is called “agni” in Ayurveda, and is so indispensable to our well-being. Digesting nutrients and also interpersonal interactions is essential, and without agni, we tend to have sluggish digestion or repressed/unresolved emotions, both of which can become chronic issues. On the other hand, too much agni can heat us up too much, into acid reflux or anger for example.
A couple of wonderful ways to balance the heat of Pitta season and of agni:
- take a small after-lunch nap or rest time (just like we offer to young children, there is a good reason!)
- create space between eating meals so the agni fires up and then lets off in a cyclical manner instead of just firing all the time.
Balance is that ephemeral quality that we know in our souls. It is not a solid thing, but a quality of groundedness, spaciousness, freedom and ease.
A friend once told me that when she was involved in a program to help her stop drinking, she was encouraged to remain mindful of balance: Don’t get too hungry, too tired or too lonely, as these are the times when we tend to lose our intentions and fall into habits we want to move out of. That advice has stuck with me, as I am one who tends to forget to eat and can get easily fatigued (a lack of agni) and forego activities that actually make my heart sing. It can become a negative spiral, I can say from experience!
So these hot summer days, I am paying attention, practicing yoga and shivasana, eating regular meals with space between them and remembering to lay down for a little nap. Ayurveda and attention to soul care have made all the difference in balancing the fire of this season, of this pandemic time, of my life.
Wishing you balance and self-care as we enjoy the warmth of summer!
Love, Lizabeth