Heart......I SEE you

Yogis,

Some final words on Manipura – the element of fire.  On this journey of life, we all have something that is our calling……our gift…..something unique that we are meant to do.    And if we dig way down and allow our deepest desires to well up, they will begin to orient us in the right direction.    Then here in this fiery space of transformation we turn that desire into a vision.  We see it clearly and fuel it with passion.  

Bring your awareness to this moment.  Root down with your sit bones to lengthen and align your spine.  Become very still.   Completely still.  The only movement is your breath.  Relax………..

Now sense the whole back of your body, and visualize everything that has happened in your life up to this very moment behind the back of the body.  Feel it there.    Then gently exhale it away.  It is your past and it no longer exists.  Letting go.  Aaaahhhhh…..

Shift your awareness now to the center of the body.  The line of energy that runs an inch or two in front of the spine from the pelvic floor to the crown of the head.  Your breath traces this line.   This is the present moment.    Accept this moment completely.  Exactly the way it is.   Melt into it.  Feel it.  It is a gift.

Finally shift your awareness to the entire front of the body, from the pubic bone to the top of the forehead.   Energetically open it up.  Notice the infinite space in front of the body.  The future.  Notice how clear, wide, spacious and free it is.  Feel it with the wide open front of your body.    This is where you paint your vision.    Anything you want!

Then we begin to move toward it.  Baby steps.  Keeping the front of the body wide open so we notice the signs the Universe provides – and it will provide plenty.   These are the markers in the road.  They point the way.  But where the real inner strength comes in is when we see one of them – we MAKE THE TURN.    Stepping out of our comfort zone, even if it is only with our big toe.  The confidence to move without any “proof”.   A sign – take it.    A gut feeling – follow it.   An invitation  - go there.

This fire energy takes the place in our medicine chest of caffeine, anti- anxiety medications, antacids, Tums, amphetamines, and even some painkillers.   We learn here to become comfortable in the uncomfortable and take action.  It  is in this space that we grow.   Transformation.  And if you aren’t transforming……..   well, then you are staying the same.  
 

The reason we work so hard on building this inner strength, this unshakable sense of self, is because in the heart space we are asked to surrender.  We are asked to trust.   Completely.  What can be harder than that?  It is not for the weak.

I have spent the last 3 days in a workshop with Erich Shiffmann, a master yogi from California.    Erich has this incredibly warm heart and the gift of being able to put into words for me exactly what my journey has felt like.   And boy does he give great bear hugs!
 

So I would like to share a couple of homework assignments that he gave us this weekend that I intend to put into daily practice, and that I ask you to join me in.    They help point us in the path of “becoming love” which is the energy we are all made of and what the heart chakra – Anahata- is all about.  Again….these are not for the faint hearted. 
 

Pick one or two and do them daily over these next two weeks and notice:
 

·         Mirror gazing.    Sit in front of a mirror and gaze into your own eyes.  SEE yourself.    Not what you look like or what kind of a hair day you are having.   Just SEE you.  First in one eye, then the other, and then in both.  Gently. 
 

·         When someone crosses your path during the day – really SEE them.  Look them directly in the eye.  The eyes are the windows to the soul.  SEE them.  It doesn’t have to be a long or uncomfortable stare.  Just a second or two of really looking will cause a connection.  You will feel it with your whole body.   A current.  Have the strength to allow it without backing away.  Your neighbor, the woman behind the counter, the homeless man.  SEE them. 

·         Using things that are easy, practice giving LOVE just a little more.    Perhaps when you are petting the dog, slow down, be present and do it with more love.  If you are reading a great book, stop occasionally to notice and LOVE the book.  When you take a bite of a perfect sandwich, stop, notice and LOVE the food and the earth that it came from. 

·         As you see a person, a tree, a view, a room, etc. – mentally say “I SEE you, and I love you”.    At least several things/people a day.  Start sending love. 

 

I SEE YOU.  From the movie Avatar.  A greeting.  An acknowledgement of another being.    This is SEEING without knowing.  As if you are SEEING for the first time.  Without the usual judgments, opinions, sizing up, comparing, blah, blah, blah that we do with the mind when we look at another. 
 

So get out the windex, clean the windshield of the mind and SEE them!

And finally, as someone in class reminded me last week, you can’t make it over this bridge of the heart without the shedding of tears.  Lots of them.  But over time you slowly learn to be grateful for the cleanse of a good deep sob.

Surrendering

SARAH