Beyond Asana Blog

One of the most helpful – and perfectly timed – insights from last week’s Wisdom of Trauma conference was a newfound understanding of, and appreciation for, somatic resources for trauma.

Dr. Scott Lyons led a fascinating session exploring our own unique sources of safety, strength, and support. These are the objects, people, and actions that allow us to stay present with ourselves and our circumstances - whether traumatic or simply challenging - and hold our experience in the fullest way possible.

Resources can be found in many places, and we can recognize them by their steadying effect on us. They might be sensory experiences: giving ourselves a hug, smelling an evocative...

It’s been a magnificent autumn week at the Kripalu Center in Western Massachusetts. I’m attending the Wisdom of Trauma Conference, focused on somatic approaches to healing trauma.

I'm inspired by how mental health professionals are increasingly recognizing the power of integrating the body and breath into traditional therapy. This awakening reminds me of a profound Tantric metaphor: unmesha and nimesha – the opening and closing of Shiva's eyelids.

According to tradition, the world manifests when Shiva – the principle of pure, unbounded consciousness – opens his eyes (unmesha means "the opening of eyelids"). When Shiva closes his eyes...

 My right hip had been bothering me for days. Familiar with my body’s quirks by now, I knew the source: my temperamental sacroiliac joint. During yesterday’s restorative practice, I chose a pose I knew would target the area - Cross-legged forward bend, Sukhasana.

As I folded into the stretch, it pinpointed the tightness and restriction with the precision I had hoped. I directed my breath like a laser, penetrating deep into the discomfort. I recognized the intensity as beneficial and lingered there. Breathing and feeling, I investigated the sensations with curiosity and infused each breath with self-compassion.

Emerging from the pose, the issue hadn’t...

A highlight of my near-daily walks is viewing Mont Pinnacle, a mountain that has always felt sacred, powerful, and mysteriously alluring to me.

Originally part of the Abenaki people’s ancestral lands, Mont Pinnacle is now under the stewardship of a private trust committed to preserving its natural habitats. As a result, it's rarely open to the public, allowing the mountain to remain wild and untamed.

While I typically witness the mountain from afar, I occasionally drive over to sit at its base and call in its energy.

From a distance, Mont Pinnacle stands as a towering presence – dignified and steadfast. Up close, however, her wildness is revealed in a dense, tangled...

Species loneliness – a deep, unnamed sadness stemming from estrangement from the rest of Creation, from the loss of relationships.

- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

In our fractured world, perhaps the most vital role of an introspective yoga practice is to help heal our imagined separation from each other and all of life.

Indra’s net is a powerful metaphor that illustrates the truth of our interconnectedness. It originates from the Atharva Veda and was later elaborated by the Mahayana and Huayan schools of Buddhism.

It describes a net of jewels crafted by Lord Indra, the king of the gods, that stretches out infinitely in all directions. At each...

We’re in the midst of Pitru Paksha, the fortnight of the ancestors – a two-week period in the Hindu calendar dedicated to honoring one’s lineage.

This traditionally focuses on the three generations that have passed: departed parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. It can also include beloved teachers, mentors, friends, and even pets.

Consider that your ancestors’ gifts – the strengths they cultivated, the skills they honed, the virtues they embodied - are your inheritance, a legacy you carry within.

It’s a powerful perspective to apply to your yoga practice as well. Just as you embody gifts from your ancestors, yoga itself is...

In this video snippet, Marjorie Wollacott talks about the 25-year disconnect between her life as a neuroscientist and academic and that of a spiritual seeker and meditator.

Many of us Westerners who embrace Eastern spiritual traditions might relate to the bifurcated reality she describes. We might even experience this separation within ourselves.

There are some good reasons for the internal conflict that arises from the contrast between our inner and outer worlds.

Our rational mind struggles to accept what can’t be seen and measured, yet the subtle experiences we might have in meditation or yoga feel undeniably real, even if they can’t be explained intellectually.

...

"Meditation is about developing a relationship with yourself that doesn’t depend on what your mind thinks."

It changed everything for me when one of my teachers said this. Like many, I struggled to quiet my racing mind when I tried to meditate. Just sitting down to meditate often seemed to make my mind race even faster. Perhaps you can relate.

Hearing that it was possible to shift my relationship to my mind was revelatory!

Instantly, I no longer had to be the mercy of a seemingly endless current of thoughts, feelings, ideas, and moods. Through the gift of my self-reflective consciousness, I could learn to observe my thoughts in meditation without getting so entangled in them.

...

Biomimicry is the practice of learning from and emulating nature’s strategies to solve human design challenges.

It’s an emerging field of inquiry that holds great promise for creating more sustainable products, policies, and ways of living that are in harmony with the natural world, supporting individual, collective, and planetary healing.

Innovators worldwide are applying this approach in fascinating ways. Engineers are studying the formidable strength and elasticity of spider webs to create more durable, resilient materials. Architects are learning from termite mounds how to design more sustainable buildings.

This approach to inventing views nature as mentor, learning...

I’ve spent the better part of the last two weeks being what many would call “unplugged” - on spiritual retreat, in nature, with family, largely away from the daily grind.
 
It occurs to me that it’s quite the opposite. What many might perceive as unplugging is actually a profound and essential way of plugging in - to ourselves, to nature’s rhythms, and to the live wire of renewal and resourcing within and around us.

Our daily responsibilities tend to turn our attention and energy outward, disconnecting us from inner selves. Our practices bring us present, and back into alignment with our bodies and breath.

There, we discover what’s been...