So closing the eyes,
Taking a nice deep breath in and exhaling it out,
Allowing yourself to relax the shoulders back and just allow the spine to grow long.
We pay little attention to the spine in the sense that you know if we have a back ache we address that.
And we know that the spine keeps us upright but the spine is also the signal to the rest of the body on how to behave,
How to move,
How to communicate.
So the more we take on life we tend to reflect that in our shoulders and in our spine.
And the signals begin to become a little longer to reach to the locations that it needs to get to because we're not long and lengthening.
We're crouching,
Rounding,
Crooked in our backs.
But the nervous system runs through the spine and it reaches out to all the other aspects of our body and then we turn the rest of the body,
We receive and return the messages back to the to the mind through the spine.
So it is a channel,
Communication channel for our body to communicate with our thoughts.
So to keep the spine nice and long in such a way that that signal doesn't get disrupted is key.
We hear many times people talk of all the chakras in the body.
That as well comes from this channel and those chakras are not seen.
They're not where you can pull up an x-ray or a CAT scan and see your chakras.
But they do run along the same central channel from the crown of the head to the temple to the throat to the heart to the chest to below the navel center and all the way down to the tailbone.
Same channel that the spine runs through is an interconnection of energy that flows and again if the spine is not long and lengthening that channel becomes disrupted and we end up with certain characteristics that are not balanced and it all boils down to bringing that balance,
That balance into our life.
And many of us believe that balance only goes like somewhat one way.
Everything is balanced when everything is good.
But balance is not that.
There is going to be some bad.
There's going to be some ups and downs.
There's going to be some frustration,
Anger,
Pain,
But there's also going to be some joy,
Happiness,
Excitement,
Pleasure.
And what we're doing when either experiences are happening is finding ourselves balanced,
Centered,
Calm and at ease regardless of what emotional aspect we are in at that moment.
So the spine regardless of what's happening on the left and the right of the body tries to stay balanced,
Tries to stay lengthened.
And if we can do that,
If we can keep that balance within our own spine,
We start to realize that we can start to get the mind to find its balance as well.
So in our yoga practice we focus on the physical body first because if the body is not in the right place,
Meditation,
Finding balance in our everyday life doesn't happen.
So we have to get the body in such a way that we feel balance and we start with the spine.
So as you come into the seat,
Regardless if the seat is on a chair,
On the floor or even laying down,
We focus our attention on our breath but also on our spine.
We try to make sure that every vertebrae has some space so that the energy path,
The nervous system,
All of it runs clear,
Runs in balance with the rest of the body so that the signals that we're sending of calm,
Of ease,
Reaches the feet,
The legs,
The hips,
The arms because we want the body to feel relaxed,
Feel at ease,
Feel the peace and energy that we're creating within our hearts,
The energy of ease that we try to create within our mind.
That signal has to run through the entire body,
Through the spine and that too is a meditation allowing ourselves to focus and bring awareness into parts of the body and in doing so not only do we bring balance and calm to the body but it also reflects into our spirit when we come into ease.
So notice that the spine is long,
The crown of the head is lifting,
The tailbone is dropping down into the ground as if it's growing roots.
There's a balance between being grounded and being free.
The breath becomes heavier,
Deeper and the flow of energy goes from that crown of the head all the way down and by doing that,
By going through that channel it reaches left and right,
The Ida and the Pingala and it spreads out into the rest of the body,
The arms,
The legs,
The hips,
The shoulders and we take a moment here to bring our attention and our awareness to this process.
And when the spine is long and steady,
The sit bones are pressing down,
Then the crown of the head lifts,
Our intuition,
Our chakras begin to flow and we connect not just to the crown,
Our sense of knowledge,
Our intuition becomes acute,
Our throat chakra,
Our sense of communication becomes more ease,
Our heart warms,
Our solar plex feels alive,
So we feel that we have direction that we can step forward and with our tailbone reaching to the ground and the spine long,
We feel stable and we become more and more aware that all of it is interconnected,
So the spine being long,
It's not just the channel but it's also the link to our chakras,
To our way of life,
To a way of thought and communication,
To our breath,
To our experience.
You you So before we remove ourselves from this quiet space and we continue with activities and movements throughout the day,
We try to keep that thought locked in within us,
That we want to keep the spine long,
We want to keep the channel flowing,
The energy moving in such a way that we bring balance,
Regardless if we're sitting here quietly or moving throughout the day.
