Burn Brightly

The power house at your navel translates to graceful interaction in the world at the heart transforms into the light of wisdom at the third eye. 

Agni means fire in Sanskrit and it is hard to remember that we carry around our own warmth and light at this point of the winter. Especially this winter. If you've ever taken classes with me you know the word core doesn't come up very often. To me that word has become a buzzword and it has been used to the point that it doesn't really mean anything anymore. The use of the abdominal muscles is more important then I have credited them for. One of the most practical applications for the use of the four layers of abdominal muscles is to safeguard the low back. Anyone who's ever tried to back bend knows the spine attached the ribs is not as flexible as the spine unattached to other bones. And I think sometimes I'm prone, as we all are, to think that just because I  didn't know about it, it's not widespread knowledge. But I never knew the practicality of abdominal muscles. They're so often viewed as an aesthetic. Or lack there of. 

In yoga the area around the belly button is considered the powerhouse. I believe that's true Pilates as well. Not just in the sense that there's a lot of muscle tissue there but in the sense that it is the seat of fire in our body. The digestive fire is used to assimilate that which serves the growth and maintenance of our bodies or eliminate that which does not have use. Part of the work we attempt in practicing yoga is refining that fire so that it not only becomes very efficient at digesting physical nutrients but also to be discerning in our choices, so that we are able to integrate people and activities that serve us in our growth as human beings and eliminate that and those which do not serve us in our growth.

So we have many reasons to practice focusing on fire this week. Not only does physical movement and our cellular respiration create heat which helps us to be warm when there's less sunlight and colder air but we also have the benefit of being more efficient digesters of nutrients and information, while increasing discernment. 

Finding Boundlessness

Before you can realize your boundless nature you must empty yourself of preconception, expectation, baggage.


This week we will focus on the concept of being empty. You can't be successful in a new relationship until you release what hurt you about the last one. You can't be fully present in a posture until you release your attachment to how it makes you feel. You can't take a full inhalation until you exhale completely.

As you practice, wring out the detritus that collects when you don't take the time to be still. Let your exhalations be long and particularly effective. Rid yourself of what you don't need. Let the bottom of your exhalations be a sanctuary; a refuge from the stress of life, the turmoil of your emotions, the seduction of your thoughts.

Transition with Ease

Throughout our lives we are faced with various kinds of transitions. Whether it be the transition into and out of sleep, the transition into various phases of life or the transition throughout the various seasons, we are forced to deal with change. Our ability to move through transitions gracefully or not is a determining factor in our stress level. 

It's also a concept I've found more and more interesting as I've changed as an adult person. I've really only in the past few years felt that I finally made the mental transition out of adolescence. And I'm 34. There are cultures in the world who have rituals for transitions. In America it seems that we haven't solidified some of these change of life rituals that could truly benefit our young people as they move into various stages of responsibility. You can see this in the fumbling attempts of child stars to transition to adult stars. It's hard enough to be a human being in puberty, imagine the intense scrutiny while in puberty. It is of particular interest to me as a woman now raising a woman to see the complete lack of any comfort in the transition between girlhood and womanhood. Women go from girls who "should be protected" to sexual objects and we, as a society, are never completely comfortable with the juxtaposition, as we don't have any direction on how to come to terms with that process. We're told we are wrong for being sexually attracted to a sexually active person and we create disturbing deviances to deal with it.

There are even transitions to be made during a single day. We juggle our various roles as well as various responsibilities. How do you handle the transition from chores to meals to rest to play? If you're at all like me you tend to be occasionally overwhelmed and a bit scattered. 

This week's practice will focus, not on the perfect anatomical alignment, but on what your action of transition is. We will notice the transition between breathing out and in, and vice versa, and will flow slowly,with deliberation to notice how you handle the transition between poses. How do your personal control issues help or hinder your movement? What happens when you let go of them?