Lost Art of Squatting

I wish to discuss the importance of squatting, at least for me.

In light of the last post on yoga and digestion, hips and mother complex, (seen here) where I discussed being grounded through the heels (connecting to mother, the great nourisher) during forward fold, and the new ability to see into the gut region, the seat of the second brain or the soul, I wish to discuss another facet of this: the squat.

The squat rounds my low back. As I wrap my arms around myself, I am soothed, as if Mother was here in her most loving embrace. This engages my anus and my rectum, and strengthens the muscles connected to my loose hip.

For a girl with digestive and mother-related issues, this is an excellent pose too. I am continuing the work with uttanasa and garland pose with arms hugging the legs, coming down and back up through chair pose. I warm up with a sun salutation.

The Human Condition, Yoga | 13.12.2009 15:05 | No Comments

Openings

My yoga practice has taken me deeper and deeper into the levels of my body, from the skin inwards. At first my attention was solely with my posture, and the organs of action: namely, arms and legs. I moved towards understanding how my arms and legs attached to my trunk, noticing when the big bones sat in the joints funny. Shoulders and hips, my teacher told me, are multi-directional joints that are representative of options. I remained unaware of the rest of my organs, until my colon got ulcers and I could not help notice it was out of whack. The point here is how much there is going on in the body underneath the skin in the organs, which attach to bones and are affected by the joints. Many of us, including myself, have been cut off at the neck, as Marion Woodman writes. The stuff of our intellect lives in its own world, often disconnected from the heart and the gut. My awareness of myself was scarcely more than skin deep, stuck in the contours of the surface.

The pain in my sacrum from my weak left buttock, which let my leg dangle off to the side, brought my attention to the options represented by the new awareness I was getting in my left hip and the muscles around it. I went to see Rick Olderman, and he helped me a ton. I learned to work my left buttock more and stretch my front thigh area. RIck’s work is amazing.

The physical correction of lifting my left quad even more in a forward bend put me down more firmly into my heels, rooting me more firmly to the Earth, the sacred Mother Matter. Fascinatingly, this adjustment in my forward bend, as my crown stretched toward the earth, facilitated an opening of awareness in my anus… the chakra associated to this deals with rootedness to Earth. I knew I had been cut off here. My teenage bulimia too, repudiated motherly nourishment and nurture. There in the gut, power center, fear of my father depreciated my self-worth. There, when I am there in a forward bend, staring at my knees, I see the other side of me. Folded in half, the other side of me is directly in front of my gaze. I can look into my gut, look for the blocks, breathe in opening, offer my attentive love, and she responds.

That is the thing to do in some of these yoga poses, and it had just been theory before: connect the crown and the anus. As humans, we are connected to spirit AND matter. We are mind AND body. Both demand our awareness– the rational and the irrational. Words AND symbols. The spoken and the unsaid. The good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the civilized and the wild. When the one is repressed, it begins to clamor for attention. Doesn’t it?

Rick, the physical therapist whom I highly recommend can be found here and here

The Human Condition, Yoga | 7.11.2009 16:38 | 2 Comments

Yoga as a Form

Yoga postures are like the Platonic Forms
Yoga is an opening
of the body
into geometric shapes.
Putting the mind
where before had just been darkness
Matter that is unaware of what it is holding
Opening to the essence of the form
Staying with the feeling
Moving through any discomfort
Perfecting the union of mind and body
Matter becoming conscious

What is it like to be a …
Triangle Mountain Tree Rock Eagle Bridge Dog Child

Philosophy, Psychology, Yoga | 23.09.2009 20:04 | No Comments

Shifting and Moving

A short time ago I ran across the email of one of my shaman friends. Shortly after I had the most bizarre dream that she was in. I was at a mansion belonging to a secret society. I was looking for healing. I was with my ex. One of my old friends helped me get by the crazy lever/sliding door booby-trap contraption on some stairs. I was in an old Victorian costume disguise, needing to get past some stuffy old secret society men undetected. Then I ran into an intuitive who said that my ex and I were going to get married. I must have been back in time in the dream, because I had knowledge of the future and I thought in my head- no, we are not going to get married, we aren’t going to make it. But I had to keep quiet about it, because it was private information from the future.

Then I ran into Maggie. She put her fingers into my head and as a healing maneuver she crunched some superfluous bones in my jaw. I was spitting out the nasty bone pieces for the rest of the dream. I was grateful.

I emailed her about it. This is what she said:

> Aloha again Lois,
>
> Well all I feel is that type of healing is very much what we do ‘energetically’.
> Bones cary so much mana (powerful energy). If they didn’t belong in your jaw, they were no
> longer serving you & I did whatever I did so you can be free that is a great thing.
> What is going on for you? Anything with your jaw…mouth…speaking your
> truth…etc?
> Hugs
> Maggie

That place in my head from where she released the extra bones was the same as when a couple of weeks ago my yoga teacher put her thumbs in my ears, told me to release and helped me turn my head better in triangle pose. It had felt wonderful. My yoga teacher is also someone I see for therapy- I have been working on healing that gut of mine. This lady has encouraged me to change my living situation. (Living with my housemate has been super stressful in terms of some economic difficulties.) So, just recently, some more difficulties arose and I told my housemate she needed to move out.

It was a situation I had been tip-toeing around with, not wanting to not shake things up too much. But it came down to me needing to not only speak my truth, but to accept something that had been coming, sooner than I thought it would come, and act on it when the time came. The living situation was no longer serving either of us, and it was time to speak my truth and change it up for the sake of better holistic health. The same thing had happened with my ex, interestingly enough he was in my dream.

I am feeling free!

I have taken some medication because of continued gut-aches, and I finally have some complete relief. I had checked in with my conventional doctor, and he said it didn’t sound serious or like anything to worry about. Whatever it is that I’m doing, seems to be progressing along quite well. The NMT is working, not overnight, but all the work I’ve been doing outside of conventional medecine is working!

Things are definitely changing. Life metamorphosizing. I feel positive about it all. I am moving into a cheaper place with a yard, and space for me and my kitties that I can afford. I am renting my house out. I have put it out there: I would like to manifest some responsible, reliable, respectful tennant(s). And I am moving in with my love and partner!

Dreams, Events, Health, Yoga | 6.07.2008 23:53 | No Comments

Turtledove Yoga Live On-line!

My business’s website is now up! Check it out by clicking on the Stretch Yourself Happy link up top or by visiting www.stretchyourselfhappy.com.

Let me know what you think!

Yoga | 13.04.2008 19:48 | 1 Comment