The Art of Expansion

We are slowly moving towards the summer months, days are brighter and longer and warmer. This time of year brings energy of hope, growth and expansion. We might not always feel this way so it is important to honour yourself wherever you are. 

I am here to speak about The Art of Expansion. Expand is the theme I am bringing into our yoga sessions this month and I had some time to reflect about what it means. 

Last week during the Easter weekend I wrote this poem: 

"Expand" 

Expanded consciousness

Expanded lung capacity

Expanded heart

Expanding into love

Expanding beyond the ordinary within the ordinary

Opening of the spaces in the body

So the body can breathe

Opening the mind

So the eyes can see

To expand is to see clearly

To expand is to be free

To expand is to allow

To expand is to know when to contract

To expand is to take a leap

To expand is to trust

To expand is to love

To expand is to be whole 

Expansion is so many things. It requires attention, openness, movement and stillness. It requires us to learn how see ourselves clearly. In a world with constant changes and so many distractions and challenges, we can lose sight of what way we want to live, what we want to bring more of into our lives. Usually when we lose this clarity, we can sense our bodies contracting and our hearts closing in. Yet there is something important to to remember here, these moments are part of our expansion. They are the mud from which the lotus flower can grow. This sense of openness and expansion does not exclude contraction. There is a concept called Spanda coming from Sanskrit, which means pulsation, vibration. Basically everything is pulsating all the time and this pulsation includes both expansion and contraction.  

Equally in a yoga practice, when we move through practices such as:  

• Bhastrika Pranayama (bellow's breath) - we engage in the practice which increases our lung capacity but in order to perceive it we must pause to feel and sense the shift.

• Moving into Bhujangasana (Cobra pose) offers an opening in the chest, activation in our nervous system but it must be followed by coming out of it, releasing, contracting, resting. 

We cannot stay in expansion all the time as we would exhaust ourselves. 

The invitation is to reflect on:

• What thoughts, beliefs might be running your life? 

• Is there fear of opening up, moving beyond your own limitations?

• Or maybe there is a belief that you must always be in this expanded place, always feeling good, always reaching out?  

• How does that show up in your body?

Learn more about Embodied Hatha Yoga here & Vagus Nerve Yoga Online here