All Humanity Newsletter | February 2021 |
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Greetings...
Come to Your Senses!
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There’s nothing better than coming to your senses, whichever ones you have. This is one of yoga’s greatest gifts – sensory enhancement. The ability to feel, sense, and appreciate more deeply the smell of dirt in a potted plant after watering or the feeling of the moistened dirt under your fingertip, oh my. Incredibly, there is also inward sensation. For example, if you listen for the feel of your breath touching the inside edges of your rib cage and if you do so while feeling the floor under your bare feet, oh my indeed.
I am making such a big deal of sensory experience because, in the time of the virus-that-shall-not-be-named, we have all been sensory deprived. Before the pandemic, we had grown accustomed to a wider array of sensory experiences – the largeness of collective spaces, the chatter in a crowded restaurant, or the feeling on our skin when surrounded by friends and family. When we lived ‘bigger’ lives, we didn’t have to earn our sensory experience. We didn’t have to drink it like precious water. Now, we do. Your yoga practice can help. It teaches how to drink-in carefully the beauty of the world.
So come to your senses, both inwardly and outwardly. Make more of less. Notice how the music breaks the seal of quiet that surrounds your body or how your first steps toward the kitchen begin the river of momentum.
And if you really want to come to your senses, let yourself be in love…whether with a friend, a parent, a lover, a pet, or even a plant…lavish them using all of your senses. You both deserve it.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
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Matthew Sanford | Founder, Mind Body Solutions |
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Pose of the month...
Savasana
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Everyone gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.
~ Gertrude Stein 1946
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A fully conscious pose, savasana requires the same focus as any other asana. With attention and attainment of alignment, it offers the freedom to shed the distractions of the mind and body, allowing the beneficial effects of the pose to arise. |
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The flood of information and stimuli can overwhelm the best of us. However, we can ignore unnecessary messaging while still receiving what we need through a simple, though challenging, means. BKS Iyengar referred to it as “the most difficult pose to master.” The mind and body simultaneously detach from and soak up input from the senses.
Savasana, the crowning yoga asana, seals in the practice at classes' end. The intent is to find a still, quiet, dark, and comfortable position the body can settle into, drawing inward to its essence.
Students position themselves face up with arms and legs outstretched, slightly rolling away from the body. There may be blanket support under the head and/or under the knees, aiding the body to land with gravity's pull. The support of the blankets and touch from a sandbag or similar weight on the shoulders, hip crease, or thighs may release effort and generate a grounding feeling. With eyes closed or an eye pillow placed gently on top of the eyes, the brain rests from visual stimuli and the pupils relax. As the brain interprets sound, hearing happens, but listening need not occur.
Awareness of how the body is positioned in space may simultaneously cultivate an understanding of the connections within one's own body as well as its interconnectedness with other students, even in an online class.
Touch, sight, sound, and thoughts are let in and gradually let go as the student remains still for ten to twenty minutes. The nervous system calms, silence and softening settle throughout, equanimity floods the entire body. Moving toward “doing nothing” restores the body for when it is off the mat and needs to be more productive.
Students are mindfully guided out of the asana by the teacher. Sensations of lightness and groundedness, expansiveness, and boundary abide. Namaste.
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A Practice...
"Come to Your Senses"
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Asana has the capacity to nurture our ability to feel through all of our senses...
Create a level of silence in order to hear differently. Go inward to feel how the breath is being touched by an expansion on the inhalation. Balance in the whole room and lead with your inner ear. Keep your mouth soft. Feel through your skin... come to your senses.
Feel it for yourself in this 60-minute chair class, led by Matthew Sanford.
60 Min Chair Class
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It Takes a Village...
We asked the MBS community how do YOU come to your senses?
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On these bitterly cold days, I feel the warm sunlight through the window.
I am enjoying the softness of my grandson's hair when I reach for the top of his head.
I say “ I love you” often, and hope it sounds and feels like a warm hug.
I am using props more often in an online class to help facilitate reference or physical touch from what a teacher/assistant might provide in class.
I am grateful to see familiar and new faces of instructors and students on ZOOM.
My mom and I FaceTime and listen to music together to support the loss of physical togetherness
When it’s hard to hear through someone’s mask, I carefully watch their eyes and body gestures for any hints of the conversation.
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Upcoming Events...
Come find us!
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