Unearth & Renew
Lately, I’ve been approached by friends, yoga students and practitioners with a recurring question: How can we work on releasing negative emotions like fear, anger, frustration, doubt, suspicion, or insecurity so we can purge and renew? It all seems to come down to one fundamental act of cultivating the equanimity to face the oppressive emotion without identifying with it personally, but rather regarding it as intense energy, neither good or bad. Then we need to pinpoint where this emotion harbors in the physical body, and how it manifests. Once identified the emotion is transformed into a solidified energy knot that needs to be pierced by creative awareness. In this case we are not chasing the fear away, nor trying to avoid or escape it, but rather we are riding on its intensity and transforming it into positivity and optimism. Emotions arise due to the attachment to our life drama, and we often attribute names and qualities to these emotions, making them even more tangible and present. But the truth is that they are only causal imprints of our state of mind and body, and instead of battling them, we can make shake hands with them, and turn them into springboards for our creative unearthing.
The Japanese martial art founded by Morihei Ueshiba in the early 20th century is a samurai derived transformational practice where aggression is met with compassion, and the energy of the negative attack is only redirected, as control is achieved without the use of force or violence. It teaches you to create a set of conditions where natural forces prevail. To “throw” the attacker you actually guide them into a position of such instability that falling and transformation are the only possible outcomes. When you first see Aikido, it looks strange because there is no attempt to stop the attack. In fact, most of the time you actually help the attacker continue their motion, while, controlling, re-directing it, and finally dissipating it. This seeming contradiction achieves a goal of psychic self-defense without meeting force with force, but rather riding energy and marveling its ability to be transformed into constructive creative power. There is no winner or loser in this game, it is just a perpetual exchange of energy forces that are re-informed and re-created.
Transliterated from Japanese it means the “Way to Harmony”. Today our world is focused on speed, and trapped in time, so instead of releasing the grip of negative emotions through compassion and assimilation we try to suppress them even more by taking pills, or simply burying them even deeper into the subtle body and blocking our vital flow. Aikido’s swing-motion techniques help us embody our divinity, slow down our pace and re-attune to the natural order. At the heart of Aikido’s philosophy lies the principle of mirroring energy and reflecting it back to its point of emergence with a positive thought or intention. The techniques are circular and graceful, as straight lines don’t exist in nature, as it teaches us to nurture any negative emotion with love and understanding. The core value is reverence and respect, respect for the gods, spirits, earth, people, community and all life.
Many of us want to bring more creativity into our everyday lives but experience resistance along the way. Often times it is our own fears, negative thought patterns or belief systems that get in the way of fully expressing and embracing our unique creative gifts. When we acknowledge our fears and discover what they really mean to us, we begin to open ourselves up to a greater awareness. In this sequence we will journey inward to uncover these fears and unearth the infinite source of creative potential through a series of deep rinsing twists, meridian crossings and forward bends. As we learn to awaken our creative power with love and compassion we will pave the way to a more renewed self experience.
We are so grateful to Lisa Sharkey and her family for opening her magnificent eco-friendly townhouse to us and making this video possible.
We are so grateful to Lisa Sharkey and her family for opening her magnificent eco-friendly townhouse to us and making this video possible.
Yogea Detox Routine Part 2: Unearth Renew (open level)
This open detox flow is the second of a series of three purifying routines that can be practiced sequentially or independently from one another.
This sequence focuses on deep twists, forward bends and inversions in an attempt to release negativity from any part of the body and detoxify the physical as well as the mental sheaths. Modified standing poses provide centeredness and rootedness and establish a firm base on which to build a prevalently twisting sequence. A gentle, moderately paced warm up prepares the body for the cleansing action of torsial rotation, extension and flexion. The emphasis goes to the elongation of the spine and the stretching of the hip flexors and long ligaments to provide a sense of suppleness and surrender. Inversions, back bends, forward bends, and subtle core work alternate to offer a well-rounded cartilage lubricating and glandular stimulating experience that stresses the body’s rinsing action of flushing toxins out from the lower abdominal cavity. Due to this oppositional pull the intervertebral discs are juiced up and special space is created to extend the spine further and free the neck to float atop. The middle section culminates in the introduction of reclining and seated bound twists that boost digestion and elimination. A slower-paced winding down series allows practitioners to land back into their creative awareness and transform any negative emotion into positive intention. A brief reclining butterfly meditation leads students back into reclaiming their true essence, as they emerge from the dark recesses of their subconscious self with optimism and renewed awareness.
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