Yin yoga. Your body would love to meet you there

Life can be beautiful, mysterious, creative, wondrous, fun and adventurous. It can also be a complex collection of rabbit holes that lead us into the deepest and most painful aspects of our self.

Sometimes we can sense into where we are in time and space with ease and other times we can be surprised with the forceful pull of the darkness.

And at the same time, life requires us to hold it together, to meet its requirements, to pay our bills, to do the washing, clean the house, help with homework, service the car, feed the pets, the list goes on and on and on and on.

During my marriage breakdown there were many times that I felt completely overwhelmed with grief. So much so that my body would go heavy and limp, my lungs struggled to fill with breath and my rib cage felt as if it was squeezing shut. Yet I had to keep moving, keep going, somehow breathe: I had children to tend to, their pain to hold and deep financial concerns. I felt that I couldn’t just drop everything and be with my grief. I just had to put one foot in front of the other and keep it together.

It’s not plausible to always be with the entirety of our emotions in the present moment. That’s part of the adulting contract. As children we can move our bodies in sync with the energy streaking through our cells. As adults, life and all its social expectations gets in the way of us being able to be in our raw humanness; of us being able to embrace the depth of our being with reckless abandon in every moment.

So we repress them, tuck them away, take a breath and continue on as best we can. And our body lovingly meets our needs and holds the physiological response for us. But over time, this holding can become arduous, exhausting and it impedes the flow of energy through our cells. The heaviness and tightness can impact on our desire to embrace life.

So what can we do? Can we reclaim our vitality? Our cellular freedom?

We can. By edging gently, slowly and lovingly into our bodies. By melting through the layers of holding on and meeting everything we are underneath with total acceptance, we begin to integrate the experiences that were too overwhelming to process at the time and in doing so we build an inner resilience that enables us to be both emotionally present and ‘adult’ and release our bodies from potentially eons of holding on.  

Chinese Meridian Theory teaches us that when entering our body’s vast wisdom of experience, the most subtle reorganisation of our life force, or Qi, is the most powerful. It’s not about punishing ourselves, pushing
ourselves, judging ourselves or criticising our bodies. It’s about offering the platform for our bodies to release all that they’ve been carrying so we can live with lightness and grace.

Yin Yoga holds the space for this transformational power of Qi. In fact, it’s so powerful that it’s magical. I am humbled to witness students meeting their essence within class. And the meeting occurs simply when the teacher can rhythmically sequence postures that release impeded energy and the student has the intention of trusting their body and then allowing their breath to melt the layers of held stress.

Profound in its simplicity. Incredulous in its possibility.

Your body would love to meet you there.