YOGA WITH MEGAN

Right now it can feel like there is so much going on in the world. We can spend our whole days plugged in to social media, the news and the TV to keep abreast as to the ever changing world we live in. It is an information overload and can be a good reminder for me of all the information we bring into our physical and energetic system through the eyes, and, especially in our "plugged in" society. It is also an important reminder of how rare it is that we turn all of that off.
 

Today I shared in a beautiful gratitude practice to 33 amazing yogis at Aditi Yoga. Preparing for this class, I had a challenging time as I thought about gratitude. For me gratitude as long been associated with positive and optimistic thoughts. And this year, in the light of the political and cultural climate that we're in, I found myself struggling to touch into this energy of gratitude. As I sat with this, I realized that I needed to accept and welcome the vulnerability, darkness and fear I was experiencing, and that if I could, I could actually have gratitude for all the difficulties I was experiencing and seeing around me. Turning to embrace this I found the following poems that helped ignite and inspire me and I shared with our group today. Enjoy!

In the philosophies of India, sound is considered the primordial ingredient of creation. Sound, crafted from the cosmic drum of Shiva in the celestial realms, was given to Brahma and Saraswati, the pair of deities that rule over creation and beginnings. The divine order o the universe, the essence of spirit, and the element of sound are intricately connected. Without sound, the universe will collapse again into nothingness, stolen by Mother Kali, in her final act of destruction. With sound, we are given the power to create from within ourselves using the same primordial energies that crate the world around us and indeed, our very selves.

"Let your beauty manifest itself without talking or calculation.
You are silent.
It says for you: I am.
And comes in meaning thousand fold,
comes at long last over everyone.”
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
 
While the throat chakra is most often associated with sound, as our vehicle for communication, our ability to listen is also inherently connected into this energy center. We tend to be a culture of stimulus, we are constantly plugged in--to our TV, to our phones, to music and to our computers. Its hard to get away from stimulation and noise in our busy lives. I sometimes forget how much noise I have gotten use to experiencing. When my partner and I take a weekend away out of the city, I am always amazed at the sheer expansiveness of being in an environment without all the bustle of the city. Its amazing how it shifts my energy and my mood simply to find a quieter space in my life.

I was introduced to poet Danna Faulds by a near and dear yoga teacher friend of mine. The first time I heard one of poems, my soul sparked and my heart recognized the depth, sweetness and truth of her words. This weekend on retreat I shared two of my favorite poems of hers from her books Go In and In. May they inspire as much as they have inspired me.

Several folks at the Sleeping Lady Retreat this weekend asked after the music I was playing during our class that weekend. This playlist features some of my favorite artists and will be a great place to start for anyone who likes the music I play to find some great new artists and songs. Enjoy!

As a society we tend to have unbalanced throat chakras. Advances in technology and social media have lead to an over-abundance of "communication" but communication that is inauthentic and doesn't provide true connection. You can see this physically manifested in the over-stretching common in so many people who spend their days at the computer. The neck is long in the back and constricted in the front, the cervical curve is lost. Energetically this speaks to a blockage in the front of the chakra (the giving side of the chakra) and a weakness in the back of the chakra (the receiving side of the chakra). We can all benefit from a little throat chakra work!