Say Hello to the Ground

Above: Saying hello to the ground.  Downward Facing Dog on two tree trunks at Saylorville Lake in Iowa.

I'm back where I was a week ago--sitting at Mars Cafe, drinking Puehr Ginger tea.  I came to town to go to Maggie's class at Firehouse again, but less than 3 people showed up so she didn't hold class.  Instead she said I could practice on my own in the studio.  

My first poses were all done lying on my back.  You know, windshield wiper, gentle twisting, padangusthasana, wind-releasing pose, happy baby, and badhokonasana in no particular order.  I can do those poses in 'public,' because they require less commitment.  I can easily pretend that I'm not really doing yoga.  I'm really just casually laying around.  

As the poses grounded me, I committed more.  I pushed up into wheel.  I breathed more purposefully.  Eventually I made the drastic switch to Down Dog.  And then found myself feeling somewhat in the flow and doing a sequence of poses that refreshed my back and hips.  

Back in Ojai, Nadia planted the seeds of Grounding by teaching me to connect to my body even (and especially) when in the presence of others so that I don't take on their emotions.  And last night I read a book about what grounding can do for your health.  The book suggested all sorts of visualizations to help, like imagining you have deep roots like a tree, or even that you are chained down to the earth.  I needed such a dramatic grounding image that I pretended my chain went all the way to China and all of China was pulling on it to keep me down.  The chain image is a little Promethean but I like it for that reason too.  Maybe he wasn't in such a bad situation, being chained to a rock for all eternity.  I wouldn't mind that so much if it had a nice view.   

It's amazing how difficult it is to stay grounded when other people are around, but even more amazing is what a different perspective it gives you on the same exact moment.  And if I'm grounded, I'll lose my cell phone less frequently, which I think everyone would appreciate.  

Disclaimer:  My brain is missing the sequencing gene.  So this is really random, but I'm hoping that attempting to write it out will help me get better at knowing what order things are supposed to go in.  (I'm also missing the up dog gene.  Sis, you should teach me what you learned at corepower cuz mine never feels right.)   

Down Dog

Plank/Chaturanga 

Cobra

Down Dog

Revolved Dog (right leg)

Plank

Side Plank--the cool version I learned from Uschi! (left side)

Down Dog 

Plank-Chaturanga

Cobra

Down Dog

Revolved Dog (left leg)

Plank

Side Plank (right side)

Down Dog

Plank-Chaturanga

Upward Facing Dog (my personal wimpy version)

Child's Pose

Cat/Cow

Down Dog

High Lunge with introduction (left leg)

Vinyasa all the way through Tadasana and back to Down Dog

High Lunge with introduction (right leg)

Down Dog

Long Child's Pose 

Brief  grounding meditation to end