Calm before the ride
Balanced days and nights - nature's gift
The first time I remember super-praying was on Space Mountain in Disney World, at seven or eight years old. I tuned out everyone and everything. My Mom thought I fainted. I was petrified, against going, but I had to get with the program because my family was. In the pitch black prior to the ride, I joined my hands in prayer, somehow knowing I'd be off the rails internally on the roller coaster ride without some prior preparation.
I may have even enjoyed it a little because I went in regulated.
Like 1 comes before 2, like summer before fall, like youth before old age, let's habituate cultivating balance before things that throw us off balance...like seasonal changes.
The scale's almost even and will soon tip toward lengthy nights and diminishing daylight, so while we have this equinox moment, let's pause. Let's remember to bring ourselves into a more balanced inner orientation through our practices and lifestyle choices.
Seasonal changes can be disruptive. You made notice more throat clearing, the onset of illnesses in the house, especially if you have younger children, dietary shifts, mood changes, a need for more sleep and a sense of disruption rising to keep up with schedule changes, wardrobe trajectory shifts and unpredictability as the season swings.
Yoga is practicing healthy coping mechanisms that balance us. The system of Yoga is replete with practical applications that raise awareness of and help us align with nature's current directive - balance. Neither holding on nor letting go. Neither sweltering nor freezing. Neither summer nor fall. There’s a liminal period that signals to us that we can also balance our guna-s in preparation for nature’s impending swings.
My current favorite balancing āsana and breathing technique for late September:
Tāḍāsana Vinyāsa
Instructions:
To enter the posture:
Begin in samasthiti. Maintain jālaṁdhara bandha and keep the eyes open for the entire vinyāsa krama.
Inhale, raise the arms upward from the side, bring them alongside the ears and join the palms together (fingers together and pointing upward), while also lifting the heels to balance momentarily on the balls of the feet. Keep the arms straight. Coordinate the lifting of the arms and heels to begin and end at the same moment.
To come out of the posture:
Exhale, lower the arms from the side, while at the same time lowering the heels to the ground. Coordinate the movements so the heels touch the ground at the same moment that the hands touch the sides of the legs.
Finish in samasthiti.
Release jālaṁdhara bandha.
Ujjāyī prāṇāyāma with a samāna ratio
Instructions:
Inhale and exhale through the nose while while visualizing the passageway in the throat is slightly narrowing so the breath creates a gentle friction, creathing a subtle sound vibration from the throat to the chest as it passes through the area on both inhale and exhale. Note: Proper ujjāyī volume can be heard only within your personal space. Valuable prompts: The sound is pacifying, like the sound you hear when you put your ear to a shell, like the wind through the trees, like the ocean.
Inhale and exhale for approximately the same duration.
These techniques are not to be ubiquitously practiced and are by no means prescriptive in nature. For best results on your own path of practice, consult your ācarya.