Energetic Power

All of us were born with an energetic power that at birth burns so brightly that our eyes sparkle and our skin is glowing with bliss. As our life moves on, there is something in us that dims that power and we forget how it feels to glow, whether that is from life experience or the fear of shining too brightly. During yoga our power gains momentum and if you are open enough to see it--the glow happens--and it happens to everyone. It happened today in yoga class with one girl who was less than thrilled that she had to do anything besides complain about everything. It was explained to me that she had been in JDC for only 4 days and this was her first yoga class--she began with "I have scoliosis", and I told the story of Darren Rhodes--our Anusara Poster Model, and she said, "well whatever, this is my last day!" The long term girls who have been at the classes for a while, have become experts at spotting someone who will be difficult in the beginning and then shine like a lighthouse by the end--I was given the non-verbal wink and eyebrow lift--the signal that as time passes, the lights will turn on for this one girl.

I started the centering with the idea of our body as a battery, and the belief that sometimes our batteries become run down and need re-charging--our body gives us clues if we are still enough to listen. Headaches, fatigue, over anxious thoughts, anger, mindlessness all play into the idea of our body needing recharged. The girls explained that they definatly recharge when they sleep--we explored that idea, and as we talked it was clear, that sleeping does not necessarily recharge the batteries--it's just shutting your eyes--one girl explained that she wakes up more tired than when she goes to bed---that's it, our mind when we are sleeping does not always shut off--so as the girls thought we were going to have an hour savasana--we had an hour of backbending practice that was fierce, sweaty, and powerfully recharging. I played music from Cirque d Soliel that was lively, energizing, and in French--the girls LOVED it and as we approached the middle of the practice for the big--woohoo pose--their glowing faces and eyes were open and receptive to feeling the energy that they all poses. They watched--they listened, and they ALL tried, they all tried upward facing bow--and they all got it because they beleived that they could--and even the new girl, who I thought for sure would shut down by this time--opened even more and as we exhaled and raised our bodies I saw it--her lighthouse turned on and she smiled and she felt accomplishment and she was beautiful.

Savasana after that kind of practice feel like a cool glass of water on a hot summer day. As the girls were settleing in, I asked them to allow their bodies to absorb their practice, to focus on their heart beating, their center of energetic power to shine out as their muscles released from thier bones and their bones became heavy and they released themselves to the earth--today, for the first time, each girl glowed, like for real glowed and the room was breathing and the energy was moving and they were relaxing.

One of the girls said to me after class, "that ending was the most relaxed I've ever been, and I focused on my heart beat, and I feel like I've been sleeping all night--how long were we there?" 8 minutes I replied and she hugged me and thanked me for the class--and each girl left brighter because their body took over where the mind would not quiet and they lived inside themselves and felt their energetic power.