Opening to grace
I was thinking how often we talk in classes about engagement, about inner spiral, outer spiral and extending out. I was thinking how often we forget about the first of the five principles. The opening to grace, which is present not just in the beginning of the pose but throughout a pose, at the dissolution of the pose and during the transitions of the poses. How important it is to remind the students to pause and soften. To pause and find their breaths. To pause and remember that they are part of something greater. When we do that, our poses become stronger and more meaningful.
Grace is something hard to talk about. It's not a fact that we memorize like the yamas or the niyamas. It is not something that was "discovered" in a specific date or something that was written a long time ago or something that only a few people have experienced.
It is always there.
It is a force that lives in us, that is us.
We all experience it and we are all it.
John Friend describes it as a force which reveals to us our true nature.
I think as teachers it behooves us to constantly ask ourselves, what is grace for me? How can I best express this most inexpressible experience? What stories do I have that will best elucidate this concept?
When I was in Maui recently I had an incredibly simple yet potent experience. I was in the Pacific surrounded by Maui's tumultuous ocean. I looked around me and saw all the waves. I thought to myself that I cannot control this force. It's too big. It's bigger than me. And I wouldn't want to control it. All I can do is attune to it, and when a waves comes, flow with it. That was it. That was Anusara. Flowing with grace. And as if on cue a wave came along and I took my baby board and surfed it.
Sometimes when I am hitting a handstand in the middle of the room I am so attuned to a force that holds and supports me. I go to this place where there is no time, no language even, where I'm one with every part of me. Where I am graceful.
Theme: Open to Grace
Something to think about:
I think students really are grateful when you remind them to breathe and to soften. Especially in hard poses.
I think it's also important to remind people that grace is always there but you have to step into it; it's not a passive or casual thing. You have to invoke it, attune to it, step into it and dance with it.
Anusara Poster Project Pose: Baby Cradle
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