I have resumed my (much interrupted) yoga practice, and as always, it's wonderful to get back to it. Interruptions are inevitable but if I don't resume, I always feel terrible from inside. Muscles and nerves start protesting! So I am compelled in a sense to return to it, with much gratitude and relief each time. It reminds me of the words of the Tai Chi master, Professor Cheng Man-Ch'ing, who said that each time he gave up Tai Chi, he became sick, and thus had to pursue it (eventually he became a great master).
When practicing away from a teacher, a student has to choose his own path. This, of course, changes with time and one's requirements, also what one is ready for. This time, my practice has begun with a focus on the inner energy rather than external refining of the postures. Interestingly, although we use our limbs a lot, and spend much time using (and despairing over) them, in yoga the focus is a little different. The ultimate aim being the stilling of the mind, the main energy centres one focusses on lie along the spine and up, to the top of the head.
Now that I have begun focussing on my inner energy, I find myself unconsciously sensing the energy given out by the environment as well - in particular nature. Not in discrete units but in a fuzzy kind of way, feeling the difference between the energy of water and land, of grass and granite, of raindrops and wet earth.
I feel an immense gratitude towards all the traditional, wise systems which recognized this energy, and devised unusual ways to work with it - in particular the systems I have come in contact with - Yoga, Five Element Acupuncture and Tai Chi Chuan. It's a magical feeling to be linked to everything through something so basic yet intangible, and to be able to tap it and use it wisely.
When practicing away from a teacher, a student has to choose his own path. This, of course, changes with time and one's requirements, also what one is ready for. This time, my practice has begun with a focus on the inner energy rather than external refining of the postures. Interestingly, although we use our limbs a lot, and spend much time using (and despairing over) them, in yoga the focus is a little different. The ultimate aim being the stilling of the mind, the main energy centres one focusses on lie along the spine and up, to the top of the head.
Now that I have begun focussing on my inner energy, I find myself unconsciously sensing the energy given out by the environment as well - in particular nature. Not in discrete units but in a fuzzy kind of way, feeling the difference between the energy of water and land, of grass and granite, of raindrops and wet earth.
I feel an immense gratitude towards all the traditional, wise systems which recognized this energy, and devised unusual ways to work with it - in particular the systems I have come in contact with - Yoga, Five Element Acupuncture and Tai Chi Chuan. It's a magical feeling to be linked to everything through something so basic yet intangible, and to be able to tap it and use it wisely.
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