All Humanity Newsletter | March 2021 |
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Greetings...
The Gravity and Levity of Laughter
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Laughter is an incredible innovation. It sits next to music on the pantheon of greatest human achievements. Laughter can be joyous, transcendent, expressive, and even a powerful form of lung exercise.
Over the last few years, Kevin Kling has taught me so much more about laughter. Laughter connects us, binds us. Once people laugh together, they are a community. Laughter is also paradoxical – something is funny because something else isn’t. This makes sense. Think of all the different kinds of laughter – joyous, contented, laugher mixed with tears, nervous, uncomfortable, absurd, sardonic, and on and on. There is both a levity and a gravity to laughter. Everything contains its opposite and laugher is no exception.
The mixture of levity and gravity is also reflected in every yoga pose. Gravity holds us to the earth, but also allows us to feel the rise. Any expansion or growth in a pose requires finding the midline of action, like the tree trunk moving down through the earth before it can bloom on top.
We have had a tough year, heavy with gravity. Cometh the spring and not a moment too soon. A breath comes in, a breath goes out… transform it with the bellowing levity of laughter…make a tree trunk.
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Matthew Sanford | Founder, Mind Body Solutions |
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Pose of the month...
Anjali Mudra
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BKS Iyengar understood that the only requirements for a yoga practice are “a center of gravity and a sense of direction.” That leaves plenty of room for joyful exploration. We can notice the effects of yoga’s seeming opposites, like going down to go up (extending from one’s groundedness to create levity) and be precise or playful with alignment.
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Anjali Mudra is typically practiced at the beginning and end of class and in many asanas. In Sanskrit, anjali means “offering” and mudra means “seal”. The gesture signifies “I bow to the divinity within you from the divinity within me.” It personifies an open heart and a way to come back to and maintain one’s center while recognizing the divine within all creatures.
Let’s allow ourselves to be amused by exploring this variation of Anjali Mudra:
Sit in a comfortable position, feeling the sides or bottoms of the feet and sit bones. Consider if the pull of gravity gives a sense of comfort. Ground down through that base and create space into the lower back and abdomen. Noitce if a sense of relief and uplift is occurring. Begin comfortable inhalations and exhalations. Notice if space and activation are created inside and outside the rib cage. To your ability, extend the arms to the sides, bend at the elbows and bring the palms together, fingertips pointing up, thumb knuckles at the sternum, balancing the head over the neck and shoulders. Gently but firmly press the fingers and heels of the hands into one another, creating a seal. Are you sensing energy at the midline nourishing the body vertically and horizontally? Are the chest and back broadening, sternum lifting, neck lengthening? Continue gently pressing the hands together, drop the shoulders, broaden the shoulder blades, extend the elbows away from the midline. Feel the full dimension of the body. Is it existing from the inside out, moving in multiple directions at once? Is there a sense of levity and extension on the inhale and groundedness and expansion on the exhale?
Relax the hands-down, smile, and breathe naturally. Listen to the banter and whispers of the body while further exploring and playing with alignment. Identify the center of gravity and follow the body’s directions.
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A Practice...
"What To Do About Sympathy"
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Sometimes, you just gotta laugh. Or cry. Or both.
In the most recent session of Yoga, Disability, & Transformation Matthew Sanford, Kevin Kling, and Chanda Hinton gathered with a global community of friends to do just that. Together, they shared insights about "What To Do About Sympathy." From dealing with the "head tilters" in the great coliseum of sympathy (aka the grocery store) - to lessons on love & sympathy from Richard III, to finding the balance between struggling in silence and asking for help - you'll find so much wisdom shared in 90 minutes! Find some time to watch, learn and feel. WATCH here
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MBS on a mission...
Come find us!
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At MBS, we're on a mission to reach more people and help transform the lives of people living with a disability. Together, we're offering new classes and new workshops. There's something for everyone. Come, join us!
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Get ready -- the yogathon is coming!
Our 8th annual Kiss My Asana yogathon is just around the corner. 7 days of practice with a purpose, April 24 -30. Registration opens March 19 and will include a classic KMA tee, daily insights from Matthew (and MBS students/staff), and the incredible feeling you'll get from doing yoga, sharing yoga, and helping us reach our goal of $50K to support our adaptive yoga program.
We can't wait for the fun to begin! It all starts with a live "All Humanity Class" with Matthew Sanford and special guests. 10 am CST, Saturday, April 24th. Watch your email for all the details and more.
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Worth a listen / look...
What's made us pause to feel, think, and laugh a little...
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“The instant fish accept that they will never have arms, they grow fins. The instant we can accept what is not in our nature, rather than being distracted by all we think we could or should be, then all our inner resources are free to transform us into the particular self we are aching to be.” ~ Mark Nepo from The Book of Awakening
“Eight of the ten things you have decided about yourself at the age of twenty will, over time, prove to be false. The other two things will prove to be so true that you’ll look back in twenty years and howl." ~ Cheryl Strayed
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