Drift...

When I give myself time to sink into each yoga pose in my tried and true set of four, there washes over me such peace and well-being that I drift into yummy deep relaxation and feel miraculously healed. 

Friday, I went for a two and a half hour hike with a friend on a path that was mostly asphalt. Lake Chabot is nine miles around, we did not circumnavigate the whole path 'round!  At the boat house, we went to our right, making our partial walk around the lake in an anti-clockwise direction. We passed through Redwood groves. Bay Laurel trees let go their scent as cooler late afternoon air prevailed, and the magnificent twisty Oaks laughed in rustle-y chortles while the wind tickled them. The surface of the water was studded with diamonds as wind-whipped air dug up the gems, reflecting light into the leaves of all the trees. 

We came to a waterfall and hushed to hear its song. We came to an old wooden foot bridge over a marsh that had only just drained itself as the hottest part of the summer staked its claim on moisture. Jean said the ducks had been floating around under this bridge just two weeks ago, now they had to move on to the deeper waters of the lake. We saw Mallard Mamas and a few ducklings, but no Papa Mallards with their bright green neck ties on. We wondered if they might be off playing a game of poker or penuchle. I wondered what they looked like with visors on to cut the overhead light that made their cigar smoke's rings visible. The foot bridge itself was a musical instrument. It sighed and it sang and percussed and it chattered like a one man band just for our walking along it over the once-upon-a-time marsh. I wondered if the surface water in storm season reached the bridge, which seemed so close to the mud. 

Herons and egrets and seagulls, oh, my... 

All a flying across the blue sky. 

Nary a cloud to darken the sun. 

So it shone bright on everyone!

We saw fisher folk and bikers, strollers and hikers. All were friendly and taking in Nature. 

How lucky we are to have this glorious park nearby to enjoy. 

I had done my yoga and meditation early that morning, but by the time we got back, my hips were cranky from walking too long on a hard surface. I felt all nature-ized and nourished by the beauty, but my body needed yoga. I lay down on the floor and did some Ujjayi breathing with my lower legs up on a chair in the bedroom. It was golden hour, almost 7:00, and light from the low-in- the-sky sun was split into all its glorious colors by a couple of crystals hanging in the window. Both sides of the window were open so the breeze moved them. The rocking crystals made six arrow head shaped spear tips striped Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo and Violet dance on the ceiling directly above me. They were surrounded by a sprinkling of rainbow colored dots that looked like stars. What a lovely light show. 

I let gravity do the work of straightening my spine while the Ujjayi breathing replenished my life force (prana) and the colorful arrows danced above me. 

With the first asana, Alternate Leg (Pawanmuktasana) I felt my tail bone releasing and my hip creases sighing with relief and release. 

Next came a sacrum pose called Reclining Hero's Pose (Supta Virasana). Aaaah... all's right with the world when tension lets go its hold on the pelvis. 

Releasing the muscles of the waist area of the spine ought to have come next, but that would have meant getting up, and I was enjoying the floor and the light show on the ceiling too much to move just yet, so I did the rib-cage-area-of-the-spine's pose next: Rotated Stomach (Jhatara Parivrrtanasa). 

I love the sound of the Sanskrit names. 

Then, once the knot behind the heart had been addressed with that lovely twist, it was time for Lunge Pose (Anjaneyasana) for the psoas muscles deep in the middle of the body on either side of the waist and pelvis. These are LONG muscles that act like slip 'n' slides for babies coming into the world from mother's dark and quiet. They are also the muscles involved in putting our foot on gas and brake pedals when we're driving. When those psoas muscles are tight from heavy lifting, too much sitting, or life "grinding" or scaring us, we end up curled over in a "C" shape and feeling out of sorts because there's pain in the lower back and a pain in the neck because we have to tilt our chin up to be able to see anything when our back is so curved over. Releasing all that tension made the world right again for me and I got up and made dinner. I felt much taller and so relaxed.

Drift is what my teacher calls it when I start getting sloppy or rushed with my practice or forget what the proper alignments are. Drift curtails us from experiencing the deeper gifts given us by Svaroopa(R) yoga. Proper alignment and allowing ourselves to savor the experience are keys to helping us sink into the Bliss of our Own Being, Svaroopa!. 

Yoga: Don't leave home without it!

A video called "The Primary Practice" with my yoga teacher from 1995 to present, Rama Berch, is still available, I believe, on the Master Yoga or Svaroopa(R) yoga website. When life "does" us, we need tools to recover our joy of living.