Openness in yoga: reflections from September

Hello curious person

I attempted to write my reflections about two weeks ago. I started but it stayed as a first draft until this moment. I’m now sat on this sunny Saturday after a pretty persistent week of rain and I finally have the time to finalise my thoughts.

Let’s start with the background. September is, in my experience, a second January. A time to reset routines, structures and habits after the delights of summer. We know that darker days are arriving, along with less than appealing weather, so people feel inspired to solidify their commitments before it becomes challenging. I don’t know about you, but starting something new in mid-November is pretty tough under the shroud of darkness.

This led me to look within. I knew September, for me, was going to be busy. I had made plenty of commitments on the yoga side of life and I was starting a new role in my day job. I was apprehensive because I am known to burn the candle at both ends. However, burning the candle at both ends was the least of my worries because I knew this month was going to be the perfect recipe to obliterate the candle entirely. 

This was the inspiration for this theme of openness. I knew September, on and off the mat, was going to require a sense of openness. An openness to experience life, to set boundaries, to embrace the changing weather and to meet my body where it is in the present. They’re not the easiest things to do but it was a necessity. Openness became a source to tap into those tougher moments when constructing a barrier would have been easier.

When I thought about this theme on the mat, I was immediately drawn to different poses and how we can create a sense of space/opening in the body. Unknowing a flow sequence was born from this enquiry. We have flowed through all these poses that require us to open ourselves to the side of the mat. Throughout our in-person classes, we even rotated the whole room so we’re facing the long edge of the mat for the entire class. My ‘highlight pose’ from this whole experience was our five-pointed star pose where we step the feet wide, threw those arms open wide, lean back, look up and lengthen the entire front of the body.

As always with these themes, they run deeper than the poses. The point was to create a sense of openness within, that really started with the alteration of the room layout. It’s easy to say no. It’s easy to immediately throw those walls up. It’s easy to systematically subscribe to the norm. This could be how you feel about relaxation or how you practise a pose. The reality is that everything is changing. What once worked, might not anymore. What once didn’t work, might start to work now. Every so often, we just must deconstruct those barriers to experience something anew. It’s easy to hate relaxation when you have already decided that it’s not for you. It’s simple to dislike a pose because you’ve not adapted to meet your body where it is right now. 

This theme of openness was my attempt to embrace moments with fresh eyes. To release the weight of experience. To not act from those dusty, old beliefs we have worn into our existence. What was the worst outcome? We prove ourselves right. What was the best outcome? We realise what once was isn’t our reality today. 

See you on (or off) the mat 

Sam

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Warrior 2

Transition from Warrior 2

Five Pointed Star Pose