Creating Space
Space - what does that word mean to you?
The vast, endless, limitless space that our Earth is suspended within? The final frontier?
The great outdoors … mountains, sea, sky?
Perhaps it is something you crave if you share your household with others, especially at the time of writing with so many working from home and home schooling. You have my utmost respect.
Maybe these words are touching a raw spot. Is it something that is in short supply that you yearn for?
Perhaps it is the space you allow yourself for reading, baths, hobbies, writing, thinking. Many have made space for Yoga at home. I have had to increase my Yoga space for teaching at home, and ask that my husband respects that space. We have to be aware of our home space - ensuring we are safe and there are no collisions with walls, ornaments, people, pets, candles, cups of hot tea. We respect that space we have made for our practise by having the phone switched off, perhaps having softer lighting, gathering blankets, cushions, pillows, maybe burning some incense.
Space can be physical and also energetic.
In Yoga we often hear about the heart space, the space at the eye brow centre, the space at the solar plexus, throat, within the pelvis. These are energetic spaces within the physical body. Stop - place your hands on the centre of your chest, one palm directly on the chest, the other on top. Close your eyes and breathe. What do you feel? What sensations are there here? Imagine there is space beneath the hands, deep in the chest … the heart space. Is there the possibility of feeling the breath moving quietly and gently within the heart space? If so, how does it feel? Stay with the sensations here for a few minutes … then gently and softly open the eyes. Reflect. We can do this for each of the Chakras, the energy centres within the body.
Stopping, pausing and being with the breath creates a breathing space in your life. You may be familiar with the term from mindfulness. It is an ancient technique and one of the building blocks for creating a meditation practice.
Having a perspective of space within the body as we practise Asana, the physical poses of Yoga, helps us to practise safely and with awareness. Lying on the mat in Savasana (on the back, legs outstretched or bent, arms a little out to the sides, head softly resting on the ground, back supported, eyes softly closed), imagine looking down at your body from above. With acceptance see the space you are in, the spaces between the limbs. Then feel the spaces between the body and the ground. Breath into all these spaces. Notice.
Now bring yourself to any pose that you are familiar with. If you’re new to Yoga come to an easy, comfortable sitting posture, on a chair if you wish. Close your eyes if it’s safe to do so and bring your awareness to the spaces created by the body in this pose. Breathe into them and … notice.
How we are incorporating the concepts into our classes:
In January 2021 we started to release knots, Granthis, from the body and energetic system (see Clearing Blocks article).
During February we are balancing those spaces, bringing in the positive qualities of the associated Chakras. We are incorporating breathing spaces into our practise and taking these off the mat into our daily life. As we practise our postures we are noticing and honouring the spaces in our bodies.
In our first week we looked at the Brahma Granthi, the knot that is situated at Muladhara Chakra and Swadisthana Chakra. In simpler terms, all the space below the navel. Imagine here a swirl of crimson and burnt orange - think silk scarves, or paint in water. With the eyes closed we connected with our mother earth, respecting our relationship with her and all that she supports. We nurture her in return, and accept all with gratitude. We are creatively active in participating in life on the earth. We strive to live in harmony with the earth.
Taking the hands onto the body below the navel, we feel this creative energy swirling around the body, mind and soul. We nurture our relationships with family, friends, colleagues and strangers. By balancing our own energy, we ripple love to out to the earth and all she supports. We have a sense of belonging, that we all matter, we are all an integral part of the whole.
We found space in our physical practice. Making a pentacle on the floor with our bodies, looking down from above, drawing the knees, head and arms in then exploding like star back to the pentacle. In Trikonasana (triangle) we gently explored the space as we gradually deepened into the pose. We rooted to the earth in Tadasana (mountain/post office queue pose) and Vrksasana (tree pose). Abdominal breath allowed the awareness to rest with the space at the solar plexus, and our connection with the earth was strengthened during relaxation as we honoured ancient woodland.
Week two we revisited Vishnu Granthi. This knot is in the area between navel and the collar bones, Manipura Chakra and Anahata Chakra. I refer to Anahata as the heart space, Manipura as our energy house. Imagine swirls of golden yellow - sunflowers, the sun - and bright emerald green. The swirls became rays of beautiful colour and energy radiating through our being from these two wonderful energy centres. We explored acceptance of others … and ourselves. We radiated warmth, sincerity, happiness, compassion.
Exploring the heart space and our energy centre, we opened into Virabhadrasana, the warrior poses, living our lives on purpose. Through a variety of twisting poses, we paused to connect with our physical and energetic spaces noticing differences in each variation.
We found that when we are open and balanced we are in harmony with cosmic laws, with nature. Referring back to last week we found our connection with each other through our connection with the Earth. Throughout our practice the energies of our body encouraged uniting and reconciling,.
In relaxation our radiance joined together to heal the planet, to unite life on earth in harmony with cosmic laws.
Our third week was around Rudra Granthi, the knot associated with Vishuddhi Chakra at the throat and Ajna at the eyebrow centre, sometimes referred to as the third eye. The swirls of colour here are blue and indigo. The colour of blue is a very individual choice, whatever comes to you as you practise. I like to think that a greener blue brings more connection with the heart space, a silvery blue connection with Swadisthana Chakra, as mentioned above. The energy from these colours brings great balance and clarity.
Our journey into Vishuddhi brought the ability to express feelings, thoughts and inner knowledge. To do this freely and without the fear of criticism. As this Chakra balances so comes the capability of revealing weaknesses and also the showing of strengths, which doesn’t come easily to many of us. Listening and remaining silent becomes a natural skill. There was a minor disaster in Tuesday evening’s class where my mobile phone rang. For the first time in years I had forgotten to switch my phone to airplane. I think my embarrassment was the cause of some amusement! It is edited out of the video in the members’ section.
Whilst practising Cobra variations we remembered that when faced with difficulties we can be true to ourselves and say ‘no’.
The beautiful indigo of Ajna invited us to move away from the material world and open to nature. The grounding practices of Tadasana, Virabhadrasana and Marjariasana reminded us to keep grounded, to not ‘live in the head’, to avoid being intellectually arrogant. After all, Muladhara, our root chakra is the base for all the others. We worked intuitively throughout and considered an inner awareness of reality.
Through our asana practices, we explored physical space and breathing space. We consolidated this space in relaxation and our work at home with this breathing practice:
Being with the breath, on the inhalation repeat silently the word ‘Just’ and on the exhalation the word ‘This’. For several minutes ‘Just This’, drawing the wandering mind back gently when it becomes distracted.
For our last week, we revisited key thoughts and concepts and found space within our practice to contemplate what these mean to us individually. We visualised a veritable rainbow of colours; some of us as silk scarves, some as radiance within our layers, as swirls and some as a rainbow. Colour is very evocative; it can release memories and emotions.
Through our practices we opened and constricted the Chakras, encouraging those positive qualities to come to us and then absorbing, consolidating.
Contemplate these thoughts and concepts. See what they mean to you, or how you could encourage them into your life:
Peace
Inner harmony
Acceptance
Self acceptance
Connection
Compassion
Free expression
Balance
Intuition
Nature
Joy
Creative energy
Earth energy
Cosmic Law
The Chakra Handbook, Shaila Sharamon & Bodo J Baginski, (2011), Lotus Press
Chakras for Beginners, Sabrina Lockett, (2014), self published
Chakra Meditation, Swami Saradananda, (2011), Watkins Media Limited