The winter offers a sense of ‘stillness’ that no other season offers. January takes us into the depths of winter and is a great time to explore this quality. I start my class by having everyone imagine they are like a rock, STILL and GROUNDED. I have them feel their bones, like rock made out of minerals and that which provides grounding in the body. Throughout the class, I have my students focus on their bones grounding into the earth and feeling the stillness in the body. In that stillness it is very easy to sense the breath.
I have also layered in that winter is also a quiet time or a time of ‘silence’. I have had my students focus on the quietude of the breath rather than using ujjayi and to sense the breaths movement instead of sound. As I progress through the class the quality of stillness and silence deepen. I continue this theme into pranayama and meditation. In meditation I have also explored having everyone hold a rock and focus on merging with the qualities of rock which are; still, grounded, silent.
For me the qualities of ‘stillness’ and ‘silence’ are portals into the eternal realm. I feel that I can actually soak in these qualities like soaking in a bath to find renewal and a deep connection to the essence of life or what is called ‘swaha’ in Yoga philosophy. In savasana I remind my students of this truth and have them bathe in ‘stillness’ and ‘silence’ and to allow it to soak into the depths of their being and the core of their bones.
The idea of exploring ‘stillness’ in my teaching was originally inspired by the film, ‘I heart Huckabees’ in which there is a line where the two main characters experience the ‘zen of being’ and describe it as feeling like being a rock. I have explored the feeling of being like a rock in perfect stillness as an entry point to meditation ever since. I found that most people that I discussed this movie with didn’t get it and yet it had a very strong impact on me, like a ‘zen hit’ it whacked me with its wackiness.
The exploration of ‘silence’ as a portal to bliss was inspired by my teacher OSHO with whom I took sannyas in 1989. His teachings explore using music as a way into silence. When the music stops there is silence, in this silence the inner ear awakens and sometimes divine music can be heard, like the sound of OM.