If you want to know which way the wind is blowing…..
….. pay attention to the sand. Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (BMC).
Or in yoga speak: if you want to know what’s going on in the mind, take a look at the body.
How we posture ourselves, approach movement and even the types of movement we choose to do, speaks volumes about the fluctuations of the mind.
In the recent Nelson Retreat I facilitated there was time set aside for simply dancing, and it was so joyful and liberating.
Dancing, for a lot of people, can be really scary especially when confronted with their own stories, judgements, insecurities, or the need or desire to move in the ‘right’ way.
This can often limit us in our movement and enjoyment of life.
Even in Yoga I hear students wanting to get it ‘right’.
In Yoga philosophy, one of the core sutras is:
1.2: Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodha
Chitta comes from the root, cit - to perceive, know, or observe. A big part of this is Ego (Ahamkara). The ego creates the borders to our self identity and then works hard to maintain and strengthen them. Think of the stories you have about yourself, the labels you use to describe yourself and how hard it is to let them go.
So often the stories we create and the fear we hold create rigidity in the body and the mind. It stifles our movement or holds us in a way that reinforces the stories.
Vritti means to whirl, turn, revolve or go on. Think of the incessant and repetitive nature of the thoughts that you have. Vritti is the distortion of perception, the need to make stories or find relationships between the things that come in through the five senses. Identification with the vritti obscures our perception of our true self.
Nirodha means to restrain, suppress or cease. It is both a process and a state where we are capable of transforming self identification with the vritti so that we are able to abide in the seer or our true nature.
And this is ultimately the goal of Yoga. To free us from the identification with thought and to abide in essence nature, Shiva consciousness or the truth of who we are.
When we are able to see the stories but no longer attach to them, we can free ourselves from suffering. We open ourselves up to greater potential, possibility and joy.
“What I am after isn’t flexible bodies but flexible brains” Dr Moshe Feldenkrais.
We can create flexible brains through movement exploration like Somatics, free movement such as dance or continually learning new things.
Check out this podcast I did with Yoga Medicine on the Beginners Mind and why continuing to learn new things is invaluable as we age.
Last night I further challenged my comfort zone by attending a Honey Pot dance class. Think Paris Goebel and The Royal Family Virtual Experience. It was so scary I had to phone in a friend to come with me. The story I was creating was that I would be the oldest one there and look like the Tin Man who had not been oiled in 10years!
(I actually did play the Tin Man 30 years ago!)
I have to say it was so much fun, liberating, inspiring and the anatomy geek in me was in awe at the way the participants could move their pelvis with such freedom and no rigidity. Dance increases endocabbanoid and serotonin production and you can feel this once you let go and allow yourself to be free. You experience an elevation in mood, decrease in pain and anxiety. I literally left the class high on life!
So put down your phone, put on some music and let yourself dance and be free!