The summer is filled with gifts for the senses. The color, fragrance and textures of life are rich and vibrant. Although it is the more vedic approach to yoga to withdraw from senses perception/pratyahara, the tantric approach to yoga encourages us to celebrate our embodiment as well as embracing the austere practice of turning our awareness within, balancing the male and female aspect of life.
Following the tantric path of yoga, this class focuses on opening the senses to the subtle energies of nature from within. Encourage your students to draw the energy of their brain and minds’ awareness deep into the tissues of the body to increase awareness of the subtle
sensations within the body and specifically of the breath flow of the breath. The breath can be felt as the waves of energy, purifying the body, mind and soul. The inhalation draws in subtle pranic energy and the exhalation gives way to relaxation on all levels. By giving into the sensations of the breath and the body the mind merges of ‘yogs’ with the tissues of the body. Continue to use words like; feel, sense, experience the sensations inside as you continue through the class.
In the ancient tantric yogic texts the body is metaphorically compared to that of cow and our sadhana or practice is meant to be like milking a cow. Instead of milk we are pumping the body to awaken and uplift subtle energy. We can also draw the shakti prana up from the earth in standing postures. Pulling the biospheric energy up into your body as we inhale and giving into the gravitational pull of the earth to connect to her tectonic plates to merge our energy meridians into the energy meridians of the earth. This practice will create a deep connection to the energy of nature which is fully awake during the summer and it will make us feel more alive and receptive to the richness and juiciness of summer!