‘This too shall pass’
-Persian proverb
Change happens. Just as the seasons turn, the moon waxes and wanes, the tides come in and out, creatures live and die, and so must everything in life change. Even the deserts, even the seas, even the mountains will change. Change is the only thing of which we can be sure. Over the years our bodies will change with age, but also daily there will be changes and also in our emotions, mental state and importantly our awareness. This is why we practise every day, so that we might observe this phenomenon of nature in ourselves. We use our yoga practice as the constant by which we can measure the ephemeral nature of the human condition.
This is why it is so important to keep a regular practice, especially of the standing poses because they are the poses in which we are most grounded and so most able to measure change. As the mother of all standing poses, Tadasana is like the litmus test for our daily practice. Through correct and conscious practise of this pose we are able to tune into our present state, noticing the fluctuations that occur daily, even each minute, and coming back to our centre. Yoga practice is our anchor in the seas of change, keeping us stable and afloat.
People will tend to resist change, seeing it as a loss of the comfort of the past and fearing the coming of an unknown future. Yoga practice supports us through the bigger changes, helping us to balance life’s bigger challenges and losses and preparing us for whatever may come.
Through Yoga practice we regulate our bodies and our lives through the practising of certain asanas and sequences according to our needs. It also helps us to learn to embrace change, especially in the relaxation poses and through pranayama practice. In these practices we learn how to breathe, to locate tension with every inhalation and to let go of it with every exhalation. We exhale and let go, exhale and let go of physical, emotional and mental tension or stress. There is a moment at the end of every exhalation when we are completely empty of breath and it is there we reside with our awareness as we inhale. Inhalations happen, they are not intentional; we let them happen and stay with our awareness in the emptiness. This emptiness represents the present moment. We let go of the past and stay present and let the future happen. Like this we are prepared for the change by keeping our awareness in the present moment.
Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre
Maria Chandler
