April 12, 2009-Easter Sunday
Class Theme
What does Easter Sunday, a Christian holiday, have to do with Tantric Yoga? The common denominator seems to be a nod to Springtime, the rebirth, renewal, and transformation that comes with Spring.
Easter has its roots in 1600’s Germany, when the celebration of Easter bunnies, technically hares, and colored Easter eggs were first started. Because hares are capable of conceiving a second litter while they are still pregnant with the first, and Catholics in 1600’s Germany routinely gave up eggs for Lent and eggs were therefore in excess, the Easter hare and eggs became symbols of fertility and the birth cycle. The Easter hare was said to lay chick eggs during this time of year. The eggs were originally dyed red for Jesus’s blood. These traditions of the Easter bunny and colored Easter eggs and the symbols of fertility that they conferred, tied in with Jesus’ resurrection, in that both affirmed the triumph of life over death.
Similarly, Tantric based yoga also celebrates life and the wonderment of the birth / death cycle as a function of the spandic universe. This is to say that contained within life is a constant cycle of birth and death. This cycle speaks to the orderliness of the universe, that there is always a rise and a fall in the ocean of consciousness, a beginning and an end. What’s more, this cycle is perfect in its completeness (purna). It echos and reverberates throughout all life forms in nature.
Practicioners of Tantric yoga actively seek to align with the divine, to help cull and nuture our own divinity by stepping into our highest selves through the practice of yoga. When Tantricas step into their power, fully, by fully committing to each moment to live as their highest self, they are in alignment with the Divine. Tantricas, embrace that Shakti, in her fullness and playfulness, likes to experience life in all of its incarnations / forms, even the dark ones. Knowing this helps Tantricas cope with, explain and even celebrate the seeming whims of the ways of the world and reconcile even darkness as perfectly orderly and intentioned.
By practicing yoga regularly, Tantricas help themselves uncloak the mayas that bring on forms of darkness, such as depression and anxiety. Tantricas are empowered to unmask and remove the dust that clouds the heart for a fully open and expansive state, one that is open to grace. When one’s heart is fully open to the moment, it becomes possible to live in a heightened state of grace, which in many respects is more protecting than if we go through life in a protected, contracted state, think rounded shoulders. For example, yoga postures are at their best and safest when the practitioner is trusting, soft, and light as a feather (i.e kicking up to handstand). In Anusara, we often say melt the heart because it serves the dual function of bringing the shoulder blades onto the back body, and also encourages a softness. This softness helps us align more fully with nature and in this alignment, we are in a state that is so open, so freeing, so expansive, that it naturally attracts an even more expansive, heightened state of bliss. This bliss is radiant, shri, and invites a cycle of renewal, a pranic uprising which affirms the very essence of life, that life is inherently good. This embodiment by Shakti that we are blessed with is the exquisite tool we have, a vessel to carry our soul and experience the bliss that is life. It is through this practice that we remember that everyday, nay every moment, is an opportunity for transformation. In this transformation is tremendous healing power to make shifts to a light filled consciousness.
No related posts.
