[image via yugahealing]
I’ve been working a lot (a lot) on shoulder openers lately. My downward dog has been deconstructed and destroyed. The rebuilding process involves shoulders and not shoulders. More or less shoulders.
Meanwhile, I often feel raw, split open and vulnerable – or alternately- creative and loving. It didn’t hit me until today that these things are connected. My teacher this morning said: The arms are an extension of the heart.
‘Of course,’ I thought. ‘That’s why you hug with them.’ A simple and silly thought, perhaps, but it all made sense to me in that moment.
Of course my shoulders are a huge part of my practice right now. Through this transition from “other-” employment to self-employment, I need to use my heart. To move forward with love and passion for my dharma, and with caring and compassion for myself as well. Anahata – with three grounded chakras below it, and the chakras of higher discrimination above, it is the liaison between our bodies and minds. Where humanity meets the abyss.
I have made this leap to follow my heart. To give my heart room to open and grow, and lead the way.
I’ve been SO aggravated with this dog deconstruction. However necessary it is, it’s horribly frustrating to start a pose over from scratch – one I’ve been doing for 15 years. But I’m hoping this new perspective will motivate me again. And so, everyday I get back on the mat. Every day back to downward dog.
martinis and mantras 