The Lusty Month of May

The Lusty Month of May

May invites us to celebrate the fullness of ourselves. It asks us to clear out the out clutter, just like we clean out our flower beds, so we can blossom forth. It reminds us it is not a bad or shameful thing to enjoy the sensuousness of life, just as we might enjoy the sight and smell of a blossoming flower.
In my yoga asana practice this reminds me to explore my belly and hips. This is the region of the second chakra, svadhisthana, which is also the realm of feelings and sensations. It is where we allow ourselves to explore the vast beauty of life. The word svadhisthana has two meanings:to be established in the self as well as to sweeten. It is this chakra that gives us the flowing juiciness of life while also reminding us to not go overboard and lose ourselves in its sensuality. Its element is water and represents the flow and river of our life force.

Here is a musing about the belly and hips from Racquel Graham, a local Iyengar teacher and Chair for the Center for Wholeness:
“I see that the rooms of my hips are very dense - not as free or wide open as once they were, or that I would like them to be. To be able to skip through life, one needs lightness in the room of the hips! Density comes to the hips from sitting too much - trying to be comfortable, to seek ease, to be entertained, distracted or amused. The belly becomes dense by protecting the energy, the joy of the child within. The shoulders become dense from carrying the weight of the world around - by being too responsible, too in-charge, by believing that working hard is essential for survival.”

How easy it is to forget about the joy of life. Even in the hard times there is an invitation to remember that hard times are a part of the journey of remembering the bliss that is our true nature. This comes only through allowing all that is present to be acknowledged and honored.

So how can we do this? Here are a few pratices we have been playing with in classes this month:

• Begin by lying down on a trifolded blanket. Lie at the end of the blanket placing it between the pubic bone and the belly button. The purpose of this is to allow the belly to free up from its held tensions. If you aren’t getting much juice from this then roll the end of the blanket up once and see if that gets a little deeper in. It shouldn’t hurt but should create a gentle pressure in the tight places inviting them to release. Don’t try to force the breathe into the belly. Allow the breath to move into the side ribs and back body. Each inhalation is an expansion of those areas and each exhalation is an allowing of the belly to relax a bit more. You can think of the inhale as an invitation to the belly to enter the abode of the body and the exhale as the belly’s response to that invite – to enter more deeply.
• After a few minutes here begin to stretch like you are a starfish. Let the limbs stretch out from the core. Then roll onto your right side and pause for a few breaths. Then make your way to sitting.
• After a few warmups, make your way into adho mukha svanasana, downward facing dog. Allow the freed up belly to lift you up. See if it feels any different than your usual dog. Take the right leg out to the side with a bent knee, allowing the belly to flow toward the right hip. Twist to the right, looking at the right armpit and then bring that leg forward into kapotasana, pigeon pose. Prop the right hip as needed to create stability so the hips can open safely. If the belly is the river, the hips are the its river banks. They are needed for the river to flow with ease.
• When ready move back into down dog and repeat on the second side.

Try these out and let me know what emerges for you. Explore, without shame and with abandon, this lusty month of May.
Shanti, Janice