This week, my yoga classes used our bodies to feel and observe the physical force of gravity pulling us toward the Earth, and the resisting lift required of our bodies to hold us upright. There are about a million ways to teach a yoga class themed around balance, often phrased as “finding balance.” Over the course of the week, I realized this class is a little different because it’s primarily about NOTICING balance where it already exists, and exploring from that point. It’s kind of amazing to think about. No matter where we are, a constant force of 9.8 m/s^2 drives our physical body toward the ground. No matter where we are or how we orient it, our body creates equal force to maintain our shape, allow us to breathe, and disconnect from the ground in order to move around. We don’t have to do one single thing to cause this to happen. This balance of forces is simply our natural physical state.
The most common way to describe gravity is as a “downward” force. Right off the bat, that’s not exactly precise, since gravity actually draws us toward the center of the Earth’s sphere. These forces move toward and away from the largest physical mass in any remote proximity to us. Furthermore, words like “up” and “down” can come with unconscious value judgments that don’t necessarily serve us in a mindfulness practice where we want to observe without the clutter of our assumptions and word associations. For purposes of this class, I invited students to imagine gravity as “connecting force,” and its resistance as “lifting/releasing force.”
Standing upright, begin to breathe in and out through the nose. Relax the eyes, and begin to create aware, aligned posture. Feel the soles of the feet in contact with the floor. Lift all ten toes up, and place them back down one at a time, beginning with the pinky toe. On an exhale, draw the bellybutton toward the spine, and aim the tailbone toward the floor. Let the knees be soft, so that when you tuck the tailbone, your heels feel heavier. Adjust yourself over your feet so that you have equal weight on the heels and balls of the feet, and equal weight from side to side. Begin to notice that through the center of the big toe, pinky toe, and heel, the sole of each foot rises up through the ankle, shin, and knee. Maybe you feel your quads (front of your thighs) firming up as part of this lift. On an inhale, let the sternum rise toward the ceiling or the sky. Exhaling, let the shoulder-blades ease down the back and the shoulders relax away from the ears. Inhaling, feel the crown of the head lift as if a string is tugging straight up through the center of the head. Your hands can be at the heart, or out to the sides with the palms forward.
Take at least ten breaths here, using each exhale to observe the physical sensations of the connecting force moving from the top of your head through the soles of your feet. Use each inhale to observe the sensations of the lifting/releasing force from the soles of your feet through the crown of your head.
Of course, in yoga, nothing is “just” in the physical body. I think there are myriad ways to expound on “connect and lift” as they exist in our minds, spirits, and actions. The example in my mind this week began with the thought that pride, opportunity, success, and achievement are things I would associate with “lift.” Without balance, a proud, successful person can become disconnected from their relationships and healthy personal boundaries, or become isolated because their success is all they want to engage with. What is a balancing, “connecting” idea to pair with pride/success? To me, that could mean a balanced and successful person invests their business or financial resources into creating opportunities for other people. It could mean that person devotes a lot of their time to serving their community, or their resources to supporting community service organizations. Conversely, “connect” can mean unhealthy attachments, codependency, and self-doubt. Maybe a “lift deficiency” describes the depressed person who feels glued to their couch or bed. There is an idea in some fields of psychology that “action comes before motivation.” (I first read this in the “Feeling Good” book detailed in “Resources.”) I can have a tendency to feel overwhelmed with “connect,” like everything is so heavy and it’s so hard to want to or decide to DO anything. In that case, it might take a little “lift” visualization–something to be proud of, a past success maybe, and a reminder that the lifting force is there any time I decide to tune in to it.
Physically feeling connection and lift can be done from literally anywhere, anytime. These are the yoga poses I used to explore the sensations of lift and connect:
High Lunge:
The front foot is flat to the ground directly under a bent knee, the back heel is lifted, hips and shoulders are square to the front, arms extend overhead. It’s important to draw the front-foot hip back and the back-foot hip forward while tucking the tailbone and drawing the belly button in. To begin, feel everything below the bellybutton move toward the floor and connection on your exhales. Feel everything above the bellybutton move toward the ceiling or sky, and lift, on your inhales.
Option 1: While exhaling, let the back knee bend and move toward connection to the floor. Maybe it touches or maybe it just hovers. Inhaling, press the back heel back and straighten the leg, lifting through the chest and fingertips. Repeat 2-5 times.
Option 2: Lift the heel of the front foot like “putting on a high heel.” Really draw the front hip back and really pull the belly in to stabilize. You have very little surface area handling ALL the connect and lift forces that are moving through your body. Hold for 3-5 breaths and then lower the heel.
Repeat on the other side.
Warrior 2:
The front foot is flat to the floor, directly underneath a bent knee, the back foot is also flat, and oriented perpendicular to the front foot. Hips and shoulders are square to the sides, the front hip is abducted out, and arms extend out to the sides. The head turns to look over the front hand. Both feet press into the mat.
Lift the heel of the front foot, really pull in the belly and tuck the tailbone. Hold for 3-5 breaths.
Repeat on the other side.
You can move from Warrior 3 to a half-split, allowing the connecting force to draw the heart toward the floor and lifting force to draw the raised leg toward the ceiling. You can take a seated position and lift your butt off the floor using your hands next to hips, maybe with the assistance of blocks under your hands. As always, there’s no wrong way to explore these forces as long as your body is properly aligned, and you can maintain a calm and steady breath.
My goal is to come back to this practice the next time I’m feeling “dragged down.” Breathe deeply, and always remember that balance doesn’t always need to be “found”–it simply exists within, for you to NOTICE.
The Sassafras Cottage 