When you see this woman doing the beautiful heron pose, do you ever wonder how many years it will take in a yoga practice before you can do this? Or do you sometimes push your body so you can get close to looking like this model? Both responses are normal human reactions.
This year during the Rexburg Yoga morning class, our intention is to understand what kind of a physical body we each have so we can understand and accept why some, or most of us in class will not ever do the posture like the model.
After discovering why, we will then explore modifications and tools to do any posture in a way that honors our own individual bodies. This year we will uncover, assess, and explore, the bare bones of awareness of our physical structure. We will discover the differences in the shape of the bones, length of the bones, placement of the bones in the joints and our own personal range of motion.
As adults our skeletal structure is fixed and rigid, sometimes because of genetics and sometimes because of the way we moved or didn’t move as children. When we discover our range of motion that is not dependent upon flexibility, then we can more easily accept our body structure, modify poses and add props so that yoga practice becomes more comfortable.
Even as we study our personal physical body structure – a reminder that each of us is greater than the physical body. Yoga philosophy teaches us that there are layers of awareness that are more subtle than the physical body, but that contribute to the person we call me, myself and I.
If there is a layer that changes, dies,comes and goes like a wave or can be observed, then there’s always more.
Who is the eternal observer? What are the layers beyond the physical body?
This physical body gains and loses strength and can be observed. There must be more. Another layer of awareness is our nervous system, our energy and breath. Some call this chi, and in yoga we refer to this as prana. The breath can be observed and comes and goes in strength and weakness so there must be more. Another subtle layer of awareness is the emotional body. Emotions ebb and flow as waves so there must be more, another layer. What is even more subtle than the emotional body? The thought field, the creative idea factory that lives outside of the brain and what we call the mind. In meditation thoughts are observed coming in and passing away, so there must be more.
Another layer is what some call the spirit body and some spiritual traditions teach there is another layer more than the spirit body. Even before the spirit body was created we were and are an eternal intelligence. This eternal spark has always existed and will always exist and cannot be watched and observed so that must be the inner most layer of awareness. It is beyond thought, emotion and breath. Intelligence or the eternal star is the inner most layer of awareness from which all other layers are observed.
What an amazing person we each are with all the layers and individual differences and similarities. As we study the structure of the physical body, we want to build and encourage personal acceptance and celebration of these differences. What a blessing to experience life with each layer of awareness contributing to the journey. We look forward to building the bones of awareness and celebrate this journey with each class member in 2013.
Each time we do a personal assessment, each class member will record the information on a chart that will stay at the studio. If you want to print out one to have at home, its here.
