It’s first thing in the morning. The sky is clear. The sun is beginning to shine through the horizon of trees in my neighborhood. I love this time of day. Most everyone has not yet begun their busy days, so I have this sweet, peaceful neighborhood all to myself. I’ve walked my dog around the circle. He’s had his morning treat and now comes with his stick to chew on it while I take off my shoes and begin my morning yoga.
I came to practice yoga through Kinetic Awareness work over 55 years ago, after a hip injury that occurred during a modern dance class with Merce Cunningham. Lucky for me, Elaine Summers was in class that day. She told me she knew a way of working that would help me, because I was dancing with much too much tension in my body. “You are going to have to stop dancing and reteach your body how to move.” I thought that my career was just taking off, so it felt like stopping what I loved was asking a lot. But there I was, in pain and not going anywhere. In my heart of hearts, I knew that she was right. I needed a different approach to my body and to movement.
So I began a journey of recovery that would radically change my life. No longer was dancing about looking in the mirror to see if I had the right shape, the right posture, the right look to the movement. After months of lying on the floor, using it because the floor didn’t change, but my relationship to it could be experienced. Working with rubber balls, like the ones young kids play with, placing them under my spine, breathing deeply into the body, letting go, relaxing over the ball then moving an arm or leg or shifting from one side of the spine to the other was not as easy as it sounds. My body wanted to hang on tight and restrict the movement. I learned that if a particular placement of the ball was painful, I needed to shift it just above or just below that spot to work my way into relaxing bones and muscles. I discovered that sending the vibration of a humming sound to a muscle that was hanging on tightly, would often help the letting go. It was like a little vibrating machine internally opened space within the body. This process took a pretty long time but gradually my body relaxed, opened and moved so much more freely. This time the movement was initiated not by how it looked in the mirror but how it felt from the inside out.
My dance changed. My choreography changed. The direction of my life changed. I began to meditate and study yoga as well as dance. Meditation led me into several different paths of spiritual exploration. Yoga became a way to work with my new found flexibility to build strength and a sense of rooted presence. I have over the years developed a routine of postures, like the Tree pose, and movement series like the Sunrise exercise, all done with awareness and deep breathing. These have worked very well for me to stay limber, strong, well balanced, grounded and calm.
There are different approaches to the practice of Yoga and meditation. Hatha Yoga is a practice of both body and mind. Physical poses help ground your energy, build strength and flexibility as well as sharpen internal focus. There are a series of movements that stretch, strengthen the body, deepen the breath and internal awareness. This practice often ends with meditation promoting relaxation and calm. Kundalini Yoga focuses more on spiritual growth with energy awareness practices through movement, breathing exercises, chanting and mantras. The Center offers classes in Kundalini yoga and Hatha Yoga as well as several different kinds of meditation practices. I teach a class called Better Balance through Body Awareness and Grounding.
Experiment and find a practice that keeps you feeling really good and healthy in your body, mind and spirit!!
by Carol Marcy
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