“LOOK INTO YOUR OWN EYES. LOOK AT YOUR THIRD EYE. LOOK AT YOUR ANATOMICAL END POINTS. LOOK AT YOU” ~ Trisha
These are our ‘broad’ 🙂 focused gaze choices at the ‘Beginning’ of our ‘Beginning Yoga’ class. Time enough for looking at the tip of your nose! Why do we often start our class like this? SOMETIMES we see you not looking at yourself in the mirror and sometimes we see you look and not see yourself, like you are invisible. Sometimes the biggest blindspot in the room is the mirror! That’s ok. There is time and we will continue to try and help you learn to use this important tool to your advantage.
AT YM WE HAVE A DIFFERENT VISION FOR YOU and all that walk through our purple doors… THAT IN TIME YOU WILL LOOK AT YOURSELF WITH KIND EYES…
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL! ~ To help you on your Yogasana journey WE HAVE MIRRORS. LOTS OF THEM ~ You know the truth we say in class, WHERE THE EYES GO the mind and attention will follow. We all know the body won’t go where the mind doesn’t send it so the follow on from this is the body will follow. Yoga is a tool to help us all ‘reflect’ and self ‘adjust’ in our life and the mirrors are a tool to reflect how we are in our pose and so we USE our gaze and the mirrors to help take us in the direction we want to go. Our mirrors are an ESSENTIAL TOOL to help on this journey to improve concentration, ‘conscious seeing’, proprioception and alignment during Bikram Yogasana practice, ESPECIALLY for beginners. They help one to look, examine, acknowledge, accept and start to get past the screen of prejudices about oneself that have been fostered in us for the longest time partly by a feed of distorting images from media.
YOGA CHITTI VRITTI NIRODHA ~ We use the mirrors to help double check everything, we practice filtering out distractions and this also helps improve concentration. This attempt to control attention is a fundamental principle of Yoga meditation practice and very much part of the process to ‘Still the Fluctuations of the Mind’. Ultimately using the mirrors is part of a process to help connect with higher levels of consciousness.
BUT WHAT TO LOOK AT IN THE MIRROR? ~ We have lots of choice throughout our class on what one point to focus gaze on. Some of these ‘points of view’ are only possible because of the mirrors when you are new, others will be a more ‘minds eye’ visual in time. Examples of anatomical end points, anatomy or chakra points you can have focused gaze on (depending on the posture): Eyes, third eye location, nose tip, thumb, fingertips, hands, naval, toes, hips right left, shoulders right left, ankles, knees right left.
DRISHTI GALORE ~ There are other gaze points not on your body that we use in the room too. So if you are a person who doesn’t think mirrors are helpful we still have: floor, ceiling, wall, mat/room corners. Either way, settling your soft gaze on one of these unmoving points help you acquire the characteristics of stability. As instructors we direct the gaze so you don’t have to think about it.
WHAT HAPPENS THEN? ~ The mirror assists the process of you reconnecting with your TRUE Self. You improve the QUALITY of your relationship with your Self. You finally SURRENDER and SEE… and ALLOW your Self to BE. Remember! Bikram is a ‘Beginning Yoga Class’ and everything is set up in that class to be conducive for the ‘Beginner’ to ‘get the hang of it’, to ‘get on the path’, to ‘commence their journey to their Self’. In time all will become more introspective Yogi, a more ‘feeling things out’ Yogi and they will realize they knew/had everything they needed, ‘within’ not without, for Self Realization, but even then, as the nature of things around us is to fluctuate sometimes we may feel de-stablised and we lose our ‘sense’ of Self, we need to re-centre and re-ground. In such a time the mirror tool will be useful again to serve in the moment to help get back on track.
IN THE MEANTIME ~ At YM, we see you even when you don’t see you. This is the gift; you allow us to witness the transformation by trusting in our presence on your Yoga journey. We honour that and hold that sacred and we will hold your space and MIRROR for you… beauty.
Om Om Om BEHOLD and REALISE
Always, In Pursuit of Stillness ~ Trisha
Oct22
For more scroll down ‘YOU & US’ ‘Love Yoga’ for info on practical purpose and use of mirrors during class; Also enhance your knowledge other YM blogs written for you LINKS {Mirror Mirror} {don’t nourish the flourish} {see your belly} {free your belly} {Darshana}
Our photo inspired by another photo called ‘The Invisible Girl’ that came across on the web recently 🙂
Look at YOU!