Many people think that a yoga practice is all milk, honey and OM’s; everything peaceful and serene. Not so. Picture a wildly whipped up lake moving itself around until it’s upside down. That’s what a yoga practice is like. Not all the time, but sometimes. Sometimes a long buried memory, emotion or feeling in your body comes up and you are faced with anything but calm waters. If you are new to the practice, chances are this may be happening at an alarming rate. A success, a failure a particular thought on the mat can sometimes jar loose a remnant from your past. What was once neatly settled into your system chooses in that moment to make a break for the surface.
In those moments you might feel overwhelmed and uneasy. You just took on a big gust of wind and you literally feel churned up. It helps to remember that this type of cycle takes it cue from Mother Nature. It is natural and necessary for our lakes to ‘turn over’ or invert. It’s a healthy process that airs out the structure and replenishes the whole.
I’m no expert but what I understand is that in spring when the ice on the lake melts, the water temperature at the surface warms. As soon as the temperature reaches 39F there is no longer a density/temperature barrier between the water temp on the bottom and the water freely mixes with the aid of wind. Bottom line, what was on the bottom of the lake has a chance to come up for ‘air’ so to speak and what was at the top moves freely anywhere it chooses. In the end all the churning makes for a healthier whole.
Whenever you find yourself immersed in an overwhelming emotion on the mat offer it the air it desires and just breathe. Really. Sometimes that is all you have to do. You don’t have to fix anything because you aren’t broken. You don’t have to solve anything because you aren’t a puzzle. You don’t even have to ‘let go’, because whatever it is already has your permission. In the end, you are just like that lake moving things around, rearranging itself and simply turning over a new you.
