Folding Forward

Forward Fold

In my own humility, I curl around myself. Standing upright on my own two feet, feeling the lift, feeling a sense of strength: I release unnecessary effort and strain. I lower my mind beneath my heart and come closer towards my center; where my two halves come together and meet. I am standing, yet I am not. In standing forward fold, both things are true. Opposites exist and I embody them. It isn’t this or that it is this and that. I press in with my feet and extend upward; I relax my shoulders, my neck, my face, and surrender down. The energy within my body begins to flow in a circle. When my hands touch my feet, and whether they do or not, there is a sense of my own fullness. I am complete in my own skin. I am complete. I am.

When I come to a seated position, legs outstretched and bring my upper body towards my lower body in this way I cradle myself. When my knees are close to my chest, there is a sense of resting. I don’t need to do it all. I can relax, here and now; I can just be. To be is enough. As I rest on my own body I feel connected, held in a love that is so big it can be with anything and everything that arises. What is that love? It is like wings on my back, my shoulders opening now, my back body vast and wide. What is it that holds me back from abiding in this feeling? For me, and perhaps for you too, it is a sense of needing to be in control and not letting go enough. Forward Fold, whether seated or standing can teach me this. Do I keep my neck up? Are my shoulders tense? Where is my body holding on when it could, potentially, be letting go and creating space with this inhale?

In the postures we are given an opportunity to reflect on questions…to connect the body and mind which was never separate in the first place. Does the mind not live IN the body? When we move the body, in shape, in form, is it not telling us something about mind? About ourselves? How can we leverage on this? By asking questions to our bodies wisdom and listening.

I ask, in Forward Fold what restrictions are in my life? For me, it is often a feeling of being constrained, not enough freedom; a feeling that I sense as limitation in my body, feeling an edge, a divide. In my life that is when I can swing me towards the opposite, being too loose, collapsed, caving in on my own center. Forward Fold can, and does, reveal this all to me in paying attention to the messages of my body. Am I too rigid? What do I do with this “boxed in” feeling that I have? What helps me to release?

A sigh. A breathe. Feeling the wings on my back opening. The light in my spines warmth. Knowing I can hold my own hand, my own heart, and am always cared for. So much love – am I ready to open the channels and let it in?