One evening after a particularly busy day,
Yogi Baby sat down in Sukhasana with the moon waxing in its crescent phase. She was ready for a little yin and tonic; some time to find refreshment to give her new feelings of delight, vigor, and well-being. Many things had happened during the day which she knew she needed to set aside from her mind, and instead cultivate an attitude of delight by focusing upon everything positive going on in her life.
Reminiscing on the events of the day, and then letting those memories go, she could begin to cleanse her mind for greater clarity and to move forward once again with a fresh, positive start. She remembered a quote from Deborah Adele: “Anything we cling to becomes a maintenance problem,” and she was ready to reboot, purge those unnecessary thoughts, and move forward to calm her mind.
She folded her thumbs down into her palms and wrapped her index and middle fingers around her thumbs. Touching the tips of her rings and pinkies she brought the knuckles of her indexes and middle fingers together and placed Shakti Mudra near to her sacral region to connect with the energy to be flexible and adaptive; balancing muladhara chakra with her sacral chakra to be grounded yet ready to flow.
She breathed in as if through every pore of her skin
to expand her breath to her sacral region like a soft waterfall of blessings, and as she exhaled, she imagined expelling negativity and toxins like a mist. She breathed into her belly letting it softly press into her hand gesture and felt her lower back expand, as well. After a couple minutes of this diaphragmatic belly breath she felt ready to further seek delight in her practice, into the rest of the evening, and on into the next day.
Tipping her right ear to her right shoulder, she became aware of sensations in the left side of her neck. Then she moved her head over toward the left shoulder. Bringing her head upright, she then breathed out and tucked her chin down toward her chest, and with an inhale, lifted her gaze to the sky, noticing the relationship of the lordotic curves in her cervical and lumbar spine.
Lifting hips into Downward Dog, she let them sway gently side to side, delighting
in the stretchy sensations around her pelvis. Stepping up toward the top of her mat, with a Half Sun Salutation, she stepped one foot back to set up for Triangle Pose, really aware now of sensations in the side of her lower back and pelvis as she twisted her torso and gazed upwards. After a few breaths, she was back at the top of her mat for some standing Cat/Cow flows and then delighted in a Sun Breath Flow before hitting Triangle Pose on the other side.
Coming to sit in Hero’s Pose, she let her body adjust to the deep flexion
in her knees before settling back into Saddle for a few minutes where she repeated the mantra, “I seek delight.” After a rebound in Child’s Pose, she was ready for a fold down the middle with legs in Half Butterfly. Here, she found delight once again in that diaphragmatic belly breath that expanded not only her belly but also her lower back with her inhales. On exhales, she relaxed fully and completely. Well-focused on this soft, slow, steady breath, her mind as well as her body began to soften, and she could feel her nervous system unwinding into a parasympathetic state.
After a couple of minutes, she moved into Half Frog and enjoyed a deep side bend
over her straight leg. In this shape, she returned her thoughts to one beautiful moment she experienced within her hectic day and held the vision of that virtuous act in her mind’s eye.
Taking time for another rebound in Child’s Pose, she was prepared to repeat the previous two poses on the other side using the same methods as before.
She finished her asana practice in Caterpillar Pose, using this time to go within, visualizing once again that strikingly positive moment from earlier in the day; a shared experience of humanity. It served as an appeal to humankind that we need one another as much as we need self-reliance and independence.
Metaphorically, she imagined a man and a woman facing each other,
gazing deeply into one another’s eyes, hands placed at one another’s shoulder, waist, and heart space. Each one whole, content, and independent, yet available for the give and take required in a successful relationship. As they looked deeply into one another’s souls, she delighted in their virtues, and she felt the shared experience of being human. Yogi Baby took a big breath in and breathed out the seed sound of the second chakra, “Vam.” Joy, contentment, and delight filled her heart and mind as she closed her practice.
