Here I am in Wide-Legged Forward Bend, with high elbow grab, from Kefalonia. Wide-Legged Forward Bend starts with hands on the ground and a straight back, then head on the ground, then elbows on the ground, then head getting closer to the body, then hands off the ground, into a hand hold. The wider and deeper your leg and thigh stretch, the easier it is to get your head closer to your body, and the safer it is to take your hands off the ground with the legs supporting and alleviating the head pressure. For activities which tighten your inner thighs like driving, this is an excellent pose. The word asana traditionally referred to assuming a seated position for meditation, but the word also implies a way of holding the body, which is stable and easy. All these translations imply taking your time, holding your ground, and being stable enough to relax enough. The longer we hold a pose the greater the chance that our fibres will relax and open, assuming we’ve taking all the preparatory actions to warm, balance, and activate the body. In meditation, the same principles apply. The longer we hold our focus, the more inner doors that open, the wider we see beyond our tiny frame of reference, and the higher our energy rises beyond our physical frame. If we meditate for 5 minutes, the effect is different to 10 minutes and 20 minutes. At 20 minutes we complete a full sleep cycle according to sleep experts, and you can really feel the difference in quality. Life of course is a balance of stillness and movement, and we can overdo the stillness. If we hold a pose too long, when we’re too cold, we could pull a muscle. If our inner enquiry makes us rigid and cold, we sink into ‘zen sickness’. But if we blend the inner and outer, the circle of being with the cycles of life, we enact the infinity symbol figure of 8, and life is ours. 🙏🔥🧡🔥🙏
Comments