Elemental Magic
11.30.23
Today I attempted Nakrasana and Vatayasana today, my first time ever trying Vatayasana and ironically, I have also never ridden a horse, and I imagine the physical beast form is just as hard as the energetic asana. And felt equally as foreign to me. Up on a wobbly knee, and my other hip trying to understand how to bear weight in this form, I could see the similarities between a young foal attempting to stand after birth. Quite a dramatic image lol but these are the magical powers that our asana practice is based around!
Such mighty creatures second series brings to our mats. Incredible birds of prey ?? Agile and light footed, it takes a subtle touch to unlock the path to Kapotasana.
And then? The crocodile - Nakrasana
My pecs hurt so bad today. Searing pain ripping into this world with almost any arm movement -you’d think I had never used them before. And perhaps I haven’t. I find myself once again confronted with a fearsome feat. What does it take to dial into to Crocodile Siddhi?
It’s interesting, this magical menagerie of asanas, how do the gunas show up in animals and forces of nature? It all comes down to those three basic elements of the universe (Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva): Thats what the yogis teach anyway. Animals are of the universe, and their primal sides are understood to be much more within their own grasp.
The concept of shamanism keeps coming up for me and I can see the parallel between embodying an asana and embodying the essence of an animal or elemental being. We sometimes only talk about “embracing our humanity” -emphasizing our separation from the natural world. What if we embraced our “lower” forms too?
Weapons of intermediate ashtanga. There's a few poses that don’t relate to animal totems, and these are instead powerful forces like Danurasana (bow), Supta V (little thunderbolt). Pointed and sharp, these postures come relatively early in the sequence and Supta V in particular can be difficult to understand. The intensity of second series is real as these poses come relatively soon in the sequence. Often newer practitioners find the effort required for intermediate so overwhelming that we build postures on slowly, slowly - adding to our primary series practice for a long time.
Imagine the essence of a bow (Danurasana) and a lightning bolt - both devastatingly destructive if misused and very powerful in the natural world. Overtime we learn to wield these weapons of nature, fine tuning their mechanics to open up our center channel and build the focused, pinpointed effort of the approaching arm balances.
We call second series Nadi Shodhana, nerve cleansing, and its energetic work and lessons are completely different than Primary Series (Yoga Chikitsa - yoga therapy). What if part of the work here is to embrace a more primal, rouge version of ourselves. If we turn off some of the webwork of civilization can’t we see beyond the matrix a bit better?