Unseen Arms

Unseen arms: 

every once in a while my morning yoga aligns for the near perfect expression of vrksasana, as if gravity itself cooperated with my body and allowed for this experience. Tree pose is my bellwether posture, it's often a measure of trust  and my willingness to surrender to the present moment's grace. It's sometimes a shaky experience even after decades of practice, a single thought can cause me to sway and bring my entire foundation down. But not too often anymore, it's a reliable pose most morning, steady, firmly rooted to the ground as I reach my arms skyward. 

and sometimes there's a certain grace that's given.

a slight suspension of gravity.

everything aligns.

I love those moments, being a rare gift through decades of practice - and yet I know that they're always possible, that at any moment the weight of thoughts can drop away and I'm left with what feels like an endless reach towards heaven. It's a blissful experience, calm, as if nothing can ever sway me and cause me to lose this sense of balance. Rare moments indeed. But here's the thing, a gift is most truly appreciated through the trials of learning to trust in their arrival. It's my practice that most often brings me here. Grace itself is ever present and only waits for my acknowledgement. I'm learning this, developing trust in the eternal grace of spirit and surrendering to the daily practice of remembrance. 

and my real practice is the yoga of forgiveness.

it's seeing the softest light shine through my every sway and shift of balance, being unafraid of falling from any of life's endless postures. Forgiveness is my return point, rooted in trust and a firm knowing that this is exactly where grace will meet me. 

right here,

now.

and then even if I should  fall...

especially so,

I trust in the unseen arms of grace to catch me. 

and they always do.

~

I love you, Eric

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Bellwether

vrksasana, or tree pose, is my emotional bellwether pose, it's always sure in its indication that something is disturbing my peace of mind. This is a balancing pose, with several slow and long breaths leading me to a steady state of ease. Unless something is off, my thoughts wandering, and no true stability found at all - such as this morning. 

there's a heaviness found right now, a profound sense of being lost. And perhaps I am, my earliest round of yoga certainly revealed that there's a deep sadness present. This morning, vrksasana revealed this keenly and brought to mind how much there is to forgive right now. I have held myself accountable for so much sorrow and with most of it being completely unattended to. 

it's time to heal.

to forgive myself for every thought of failure.

true or otherwise.

and finding stability, 

some ease,

 within my bellwether pose again.

~

I love you, Eric

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Somewhere Between

Somewhere between: 

it's the balancing asanas that teach me the most, showing me that the essence of yoga is not found through an extreme stretch, nor the length of a complicated pose - but that it's in the sway and settling, a point of poise and balance however brief...

the entirety of yoga is there.

what I love most is the surrender, especially Vrksasana, tree pose, and it seems I'm never steady for long before some unseen wind causes me to sway. If  I resist too strongly, I'm sure to fall, and yet without a counter measure there is no return to any sense of balance. The secret is always found through letting go, surrendering my actions to pose itself, trusting the balance of my branching arms as well as the deep rooted connection to the ground. 

that's where the magic happens.

somewhere between the sway and fall...

a true moment of poise is found.

stillness.

if only for a moment.

and that's the entirety of yoga.

~

Peace, Eric 

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A Lifetime of Practice

A lifetime of practice: 

still, after all this time, decades of practicing yoga, and I still fall out of the easiest, most basic poses. It's exactly why I love my practice, that it's never a settled matter, always a balancing point between focus and relaxation and I simply can't commit to one aspect without the possibility of compromising the other. It's a constant flow of energy, mindfulness, built into the fabric of all my favorite postures. 

especially, right now, vrksasana,

tree pose.

it seems I'm almost always tempted to approach this posture casually, being long familiar with it, fairly proficient since my earliest days of yoga. Yet I take it lightly at my own risk of sacrificing the grace that it offers, missing out of the opportunity to remain rooted in the earth of my connection while my spine lengthens tall and my arms branch upwards to the sky. Any breach of focus, errant breath, or not allowing myself the right moment of relaxation -

and the pose remains incomplete.

a half attempt at best. 

vrksasana demands the most of my practice.

every pose does, really.

and of course, all of life does too. 

that's the true value of yoga, learning to momentarily fall from grace, to catch ourselves, and simply, easily, recommit to practice. Nothing more can ever be expected from us, our life is our practice and it's never really mastered, it's just a series of moments that call for the best of our attention. A lifetime of practice. 

it's all yoga.

~

Peace, Eric 

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Briefly, a Tree

Briefly, a tree: 

perhaps the asana that calls for my most complete surrender, vrksasana, tree pose, literally pulls me skyward and roots me solid to the earth at the very same time, creating a true moment of poise that allows for me to give myself so fully to the pose. There are other postures that come close to this, mostly in my standing series, poses that require quite a bit of balance and concentration. It's though that combination of effort and relaxing, dynamic, that a unique magic arises, again I can only liken it to a pure moment of poise, recognizing it only after it's achievement. 

but the truth is...I didn't really achieve anything at all.

it happened though my letting go.

being a yoga of my complete surrender. 

it's the solid connection to earth, rooted, and the feeling that I'm truly branching through the air that vrksasana offers that brings me to this joy, there's less strength involved, and more of a search for the sweet spot where everything comes together and this tree energy is revealed and urges me to let go, trusting earth and sky for the flourish of my branching. 

it's a beautiful experience, a shamanic transformation, and not one that I can make happen. It occurs only when the energy is certain, everything locked in place, yet remaining fluid just the same. Really, I'm a participant here, a conduit between the solidness of earth and the ethereal quality of air, being perfect in my position, disappearing completely in the pose.

and then the magic happens.

briefly, 

if only in the moment of my surrender. 

a tree.

~

Peace, Eric 

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