#kikisyoga

8 O' clock in the morning, so many people started laying down their mats near the tree #695 and there sat Radhika with a hairline fracture in her foot but still all committed to yoga and ready to take the class. Coming from a psychology background, Radhika is someone who has the pursuit to understand yoga in its depths and also help others realize it. And so I want to highlight the essence of the practice much more than the exact asanas that we did, in this article. 

First to introduce us to the concept, Radhika said it is a work in progress and we are the guinea pigs. Such statements actually made a profound effect - how? Before we awaken and feel every moment, there is a certain kind of freedom we need to let the realization come in. And if someone tells you that it's an experiment, then you let come in whatever experience wants to come to you! There were more cues to follow of the similar nature - like she said that each one's life is precious and just witness each moment, "sakshi bhava ha". If we accept the axiom that all of us are precious then there is no consistent "becoming" that happens and we can just "be". 

Asanas were our means to awaken. It was a moon day practice and so we did slow vinyasas. We combined the forward and backward bends with breath. We moved into standing poses like trikonasana and parsvakonasana from adho mukha svanasana. We twisted from parsvakonasana into parivrtta parsvakonasana, opening up our chest & shoulders with the twist and soaking in the beautiful sunlight. And more than the postures and physical body, we tried to touch the manomaya kosha, our mind. Whether its pain or an opening feeling - those are all the sensations we can continuously be aware of, so said Radhika. And as we become aware of these parts of our body, we can direct our breath and prana to them, facilitating further awakening! 

When our being goes through such an ordeal, there's a lot of energy that we experience. It’s very important for this energy to be contained and channelized properly. We did so by moving into meditation subtly after nadi shodhana pranayama. To conclude the session, Radhika asked people to come two on one mat and gently give massage to each other around the shoulder area. This was a gesture of compassion - complementing our awakened wisdom with compassion, as Buddhism says. :)