Skip to main content

Sacred stretching

I like quiet mornings when I am the only one up. I open the blinds and spread out my yoga mat between legos and crayons. If I am feeling inspired, I light a candle or put on the diffuser with an essential oil. My sacred time. 

For several years, I have been doing the videos of Sarah Beth Yoga. In her most recent video, she shared a message that resonated with this project in a deep way. In between child's pose and downward dog, inhale and exhale, she reminded us to "find the balance between the strong and the calm." Not just referring to muscles when she suggests we ask ourselves, "where else can I soften?", she connects the physical with the emotional, the balance between masculine and feminine, the calm in the chaos. 

And in a society dominanted by masculine energy, she challenges yogis to "imagine for a moment, what would your world be like if you embraced the soft, celebrated the fluid, the intuition, the gentle?"

Aha! The sacred principle manifests in a morning yoga routine. The reminder to approach the world with a different energy, to balance and connect with the feminine energy inside of us and around us. The goddess within instead of the god up above.

When we do this, when we try to settle in, relax, soften, we connect with our breath, with where we touch the ground, where we connect to the earth, to our source, to our life. We find answers from within us. We hear ourselves, we hear Nature speaking through us and in us. We let the pressures of productivity, achievement, even technology, fall away. We go back to our roots, our purpose, our power. 

The video reminds us to "let go of control, practice trust." And I am reminded to trust that nature unfolds exactly as it should, that we cannot control the natural flow of the universe, that doing so is arrogant and only leads to frustration. That we are not the owners of the world, we are guests here, we depend on Her to survive. And She is gentle, fluid and soft -- but also fierce and fiery. And so are we. 

 Here is the video, if you would like to embark on the journey:

 



*I am in no way connected to, endorsed by or paid by Sarah Beth Yoga for this post. Just following the threads wherever they lead.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

escombros / debris

 foto-testimonio después de la DANA en Playa de Gandía, 31 octubre 2024 photo-testimony after the DANA storms in Gandía beach, 31 october 2024

un cuento: El reflejo de Tiamar

Cuentan que hace muchos años, una mujer habitaba el monte. Tal vez tus abuelos te contarán que la han visto - en el reflejo del río o las piedras del barranco. Aparecía en un susurro del viento, el acariciar de las hojas y la fragancia de una flor. La llamaban Tiamar. Cuentan que vivía con su marido y tuvieron hijos que crecieron libres y fuertes. Los hijos tuvieron hijos, y los hijos tuvieron hijos. Los descendientes fueron bajando al pueblo. Con el tiempo, se olvidaron del monte. Se mudaron a la ciudad. Los nietos y las nietas crecieron entre paredes y con luz artificial. Seguro que tú los conoces, son tus vecinos, tu colega del cole, la prima del pediatra. Quienes quedaban en el monte miraban con desprecio las generaciones en la ciudad. Detestaban el escándalo que armaban día y noche. El taladrar constructor perforaba sus corazones. La pólvora de las armas les asfixiaba. Los químicos del agua les intoxicaban. “No me dejan descansar, ¡ni de día ni de noche!” clamaba el marido de Tiam...

The sacred goddess

 One of the main inspirations for this blog-project has been my reading of The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image, by Anne Baring and Jules Cashford . While I had received it as a gift from my partner in 2015, it was not until mid-2020 that I actually delved into it.  Deep into confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic, I was watching my son play in the living room when I looked over to the bookcase and just felt the book pop out at me. I slid it off the shelf and opened to the first pages. Immediately drawn in, over the next few months I used every free moment to read the tome of over 700 pages. And my life was changed.  From the first chapter, I felt as if I was being told a story I already knew, deep inside, but had somehow forgotten. It was like hearing a familiar story, one's own story, but not remembering how it went. Like from a dream you are trying to piece back together but cannot quite recall. Like when you sing along to a favorite song without actually k...