Nurturing Flow
I must have been 12 when I was wondering about the physiological inequality between men and women. Back then, it didn’t seem right for girls to go through a monthly cycle, to carry an embryo around for nine months, to experience pain at child-birth, and then to get to menopause and deal with hot flashes and thinning bone density. I remember, complaining: “Who came up with such a bad idea? And whoever that was, he wasn’t being fair…
As I leapt from puberty to adolescence I began to appreciate the sacred act of motherhood, the magical syncing of the female body with the lunar cycles. Every month we have the unique opportunity to release stale energy and purify the bloodstream, nourish our intrinsic soil to become a temple of abundance and fecundity. The key to this temple is “sustenance.” How can we as women realize our self-sufficient potential and celebrate our ability to receive and nurture?
I feel “sustenance” is also the key word for 2012. We’ve entered the second half of this pivotal year – a year of wonder what lies ahead. Will we witness the Mayan prophecy of doomsday, or is this year just a hinge point from which we can release old patterns to jump higher and reformat our lives? How can we “dis-armageddon” our illusions and join hands in a mutual “crusade” of self-sustenance and spiritual growth? A replica of the natural, our being is self-regulated and integrated only when attuned to the Earthly flow. Such an alignment asks us to respond organically to the external environment. Just like the sea-weed is shaped by the water current, so are our bodies membranes that echo nature’s call. And rather than forcing things and exerting too much effort, we should learn to listen, observe and harness the power within. In our success-ridden world we are tempted to push further and further. We become overachievers who abandon their gift of gestation and yielding. Strength that comes from surrendering is the gateway to powerful grace. When we nurture that force, we become resilient and soft, like the bamboo. It is strong because of the evenly distributed energy throughout the whole surface. Like a crater, we treasure our volcano within, a subtle wedding of water and fire, of air and Earth. We are an elemental particle of nature’s silence and fury, a silent scream that reverberates throughout the planet, and calls for peace. This is the receiving strength of the divine feminine, that power that makes ideas flow, creativity abound and health glow.
A sequence for women’s optimal health – Nurturing Flow
This sequence is especially designed for maintaining optimal women’s health. The Shakti-laden poses are strung into a garland of grounding, uplifting, detoxifying and healing combinations. Deep hip openers couple with nurturing backbends to expand the sacral base fostering the reproductive glands to secrete valuable hormones and nourish the center of subconscious sensuality. Subtle twists flush toxins away from the intestinal tract and facilitate deeper release of emotional residue from the hips. The standing poses are designed in a yielding fashion to balance and ground. The comforting backbends alternate with spinal contractions that open both the front and back of the body while boosting the immune system. Seated balancing poses and frequent meridian crossings conducted through binds open the nerve channels to facilitate the flow of life force. The moderate pace of the sequence brings a pacifying effect on the mind and allows the cells to deprogram themselves, shedding old patterns of self-inflicted angst and limitations. Special breathing techniques are interspersed throughout the sequence to invoke the lunar energies and nurture the intuitive forces of the body. Because of its wide open and gravity bound poses, paired with detoxifying and purifying kriya practices this sequence alleviates menstrual cramps, reduces the impact of hot flashes during menopause, and addresses “candida” related discomfort. The sequence also lengthens the structure elegantly to maintain healthy bone density, and promotes the production of synovial fluid in the joints to prevent osteo-arthritis. The revitalizing combinations of poses boost the production of collagen and promote skin elasticity, while battling the invasion of free radicals in the body and curbing the process of aging. The routine reduces stress stored in the cells and helps prevent excess build-up of fat tissue around the waist. For its anti-ageing, pacifying and nurturing effect this sequence is suitable even during menstruation.
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