Lakshmi
Inspired by John's Advanced Intensive where he focused on the three faces of the Divine Feminine, I'm teaching for the next few weeks on the Goddesses. This week all of my classes are on the theme of Lakshmi, the Goddess of good fortune, wealth, abundance and beauty.
Lakshmi... the way to say it sounds like "luck-shme" and as Sally Kempton once said, it is no a linguistic coincidence. Beautiful Lakshmi is about connecting to your own beauty, radiance, abundance and good fortune. These Goddesses, just like any deity or even historical figures not only represents an aspect of us, but it can help us awaken that same aspect within ourselves.
I've been waking up every morning making the intention to notice beauty within and without. I've been teaching and reminding students to find something beautiful about their practices and their neighbor's practice. When we notice beauty, we awaken to a bigger power. Think of the time you looked at a full moon; the vast ocean; a waterfall; your beloved pets playing with each other? Spring is coming in LA and already all these little flowers are making an appearance. There is so much beauty. I feel corny saying it and yet it is true. I practiced in the park in front of my house today for an hour and I couldn't stop thinking how generous the radiance of the sun is. How soft the earth was under my feet. How easy it is to balance in Half Moon Pose while looking at different trees swaying with the wind.
How hard it is to remember this? How easy to do Surya Namaskar pushing and grunting our way through the poses. How rare to take our time, enjoy the movement of our bodies and truly honor the light in us?
Our sense of duality and separateness is so pernicious that we literally have to train ourselves- just like we train our muscles- to look for the beautiful within and without. And in doing so it affords us the opportunity to celebrate the fact that we are alive.
May we embody Lakshmi by noticing beauty.
And may we allow others to give to us so that we do not block abundance in our own lives.
Theme: Lakshmi
Virtue: Finding beauty within and without
Focus: First Principle.
On Monday(Black Dog Yoga, 6pm) and Tuesday (Still Yoga 9am) we have a back bend and arm balance class. On Wednesd (Black Dog yoga) and Thursday (Still) we have a forward bend, hip opener, twisty class...
Highlights: Notice your thoughts in your practice. Notice if your tendency is to identify immediately with what is negative first.
At the end of class when they are coming out of savasana: Find something good about your practice today...
Poses done this week: Urdhva, Eka Pada Bhekasana, and Lotuses in Lakshmi's honor as she rests atop a Lotus.
Anusara Poster Pose Project: Finishing all the backbends in the Level 1 Syllabi
Beautiful short poem from Rumi that I have been quoting all week:
"I am so small I can barely be seen/
How can this great love be inside me?"
Rumi
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