When I opened my copy of Melody Beattie’s Journey to the Heart today, my bookmark just so happened to fall on the passage entitled Weather the Storm. I laughed aloud thinking about how fitting this was to share during vinyin tonight at Kula. I haven’t been living in Florida for all that long, so this is my first hurricane experience here in Cocoa. We had a few hurricanes back in Texas, most notably Harvey in 2017.
With Hurricane Ian approaching, the energy of anticipation on Florida’s space coast is absolutely palpable.
I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to practice alongside my students this evening. Following the lead of Beattie’s meditation, I found it fitting to draw the focus for tonight’s class towards more grounding postures, tapping into the root (muladhara) chakra, as well as twists. Throughout class, we utilized 2 blocks and a strap, which provided additional support and security along our journey. The pinnacle of the “vinyasa” portion included tree pose, bookended by a grounding flow featuring Virabhadrasana II variations and Pyramid pose. As we settled into the “yin” portion of class, we enjoyed one of my favorites: supta padanghustasana with a strap. I love to wind down with this pose, and the support of the strap provides the perfect opportunity to relax into the posture and allow gravity to do the work. Since this pose is traditionally done standing, the reclined version allows us to engage these muscle groups in an accessible way.
While storms (both literal and figurative) may be intense, and frightening, they don’t last forever. Finding a place of calm and security amidst moments of fear is a skill that yoga has helped me with.
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