BENEFIT OF THE POSE

“As long as you do not live totally in the body, you do not live totally in the Self.”
~ B. K. S. Iyengar

In studying Yoga, teachers of all traditions will advise students to be still after certain positions in order to feel the benefit of the pose. This is a great practice for all of life. In countless ways, we work so hard to get there, only to bypass feeling the deep rewards of inhabiting the space we arrive in.

This is especially true in how we touch each other. We are often so preoccupied with the next move - or if there will be a next move - that we seldom feel the deep rewards of simply holding each other.

By treating each moment of touch as a consummation in itself, we can practice feeling eternity.

With your partner:

~ Sit quietly and breathe deeply while touching each other’s arms.

~ Feel each other’s being in the bodies that carry you.

~ After several minutes, kiss each other slowly with your eyes open.

~ Now keep touching each other’s arms lightly while searching each other’s eyes.

With yourself:

~ Sit quietly in front of a mirror and focus on the body you are in.

~ Breathe deeply and enter the field of your eyes.

~ Breathe slowly and feel your soul like a pool of clear water just beneath your eyes.

~ Breathe fully and feel the water of your spirit wash against the shore of your body.

The Book of Awakening

~ Mark Nepo