Taking inspiration from water for yoga in winter

The body is an ocean. Conceptual as this might sound, it is the physiological truth of our existence. Within the container of the skin, our muscular, skeletal and organ systems are all supported through a matrix of gel-like interstitial fluid, humming with streams and trickles of nutrients and oxygen. As this fluid passes through thin membranes it is transformed - becoming a host of other liquid components within the body.

It becomes;

synovial fluid lubricating the joint surface,

citrate layers within the bone,

blood circulating in a figure of eight structure from the heart,

pleural fluid in the lungs, reduce friction of respiration for a soft experience of breath,

cranio-sacral fluid rinsing the nervous system.

When considering our composition this way the whole body becomes one vast ocean, constituting multiple currents of different shapes, densities and directionalities, functioning cohesively as a whole. Could you imagine the swirling strength of this fluid mass?

“When we see someone who moves with grace and smooth seamless transitions, we are seeing the support of the fluids in action. A fluid person’s actions seem to flow, undulate and glide, each movement connected to the next.” Donna Farhi, Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit.

Placing awareness towards the natural watery-ness of the body can help facilitate an ease of movement as we practise. In the same way water can erode the roughest surface, our movements can take on the soft strength of water as we ebb and flow through asana. The wave-like quality of the breath becomes a wave-like movement through the whole body, with spaces to pause and reflect in our sequencing acting like the stillness between sets. The rise and fall of vinyasa sequencing becomes a beautiful mirror to the movement of the ocean itself.

I have loved exploring this in my own practice and teaching over the last few weeks. Resting into the ground to find a deep oceanic stillness, exploring quiet rocking, rolling motions visualising fluid pooling to the lowest points of gravity, playing with a drag-like force as my hands meet the ground and layering the qigong form ‘Pushing Waves’ onto yoga shapes.  How would your experience of asana change when beginning with an awareness of the fluid body?

There is a mystery in water. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the element of water is associated with the darkest, deepest season of winter as well as being the closest element to the unknowable and unnamed Dao itself. In this season we can benefit from time to pause, reflect and deepen our experience as we turn our awareness inwards during the shortest days of the year.

“When our water element is in balance, we can learn to appreciate silence. Silence supports deep listening.”  Mimi Kuo Deemer, Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis.

This deep listening becomes more than just hearing, whether this is experienced through a conversation with ourselves or a friend. When we listen deeply we do more than decipher what is said, but instead step into presence, feeling what is heard or experienced with sincerity, curiosity and depth.

Life begins in this depth. We start life in the watery womb, unfolding and unfolding upon ourselves from centre, held within fluid surroundings. From this suspension in our first weeks of life, an embryonic breath begins. This peaceful, natural and effortless breath is something we can come back to through a slow process of placing our awareness of breath on the middle and lower dantians sequentially. I have felt a real shift in the energy (and sound!) in the room having started our classes with this stilling technique all week.

”And yet and yet
concealed in us is a sublime depth
we sense only deeply
but, when revealed, raises us
to undreamt heights
beyond all petty notions
of who we are.
That depth is our unblemished future.”

Lalla in Georg Feuerstein, Teachings of Yoga.