Deep inside all of us is a place where we naturally become aware of our being, of the life force coursing through our veins. By simply allowing the presence to bubble up, much in the same way that lava churns its way progressively upwards from the depths (from the heart of the earth to eventually erupt), we find a vast well of comfort--a comfort that one might find swimming during a warm summer's night in a dark lake with the heavens illuminated by the radiance of the Milky Way. There are creation myths among certain indigenous amazonian peoples related to the Milky Way but they call it the River of Milk; it was from this River of Milk that people came from the creator riding upon the back of a great and powerful serpent. In Sanskrit, the Milky Way is known as the Akasha Ganga, or the great sacred river of space (the macrocosmic continuum of the holy Ganges River on Earth). Space, in addition to being an outer state is felt when we release through the soft palate.
Milk, of course, is deeply symbolic and has meanings ranging from our connection to the Mother Goddess, to our human mothers, nourishment, safety, abundance, and even to gratitude and jouissance. So in many respects, our practice of yoga is about finding a way back to a primordial, mythical state by observing the breath, conducting ourselves with dignity and respect for all sentient beings, and practicing alignment with wisdom and faith. This practice is about finding ourselves at home once again as a part of the expansive cosmos and free from the fear that is born from disconnection.
Through a continuous layering of the alignment principles associated with yogasana, seated or standing postures, we grow naturally more aware of how the energy of universe flows through our system in the form of gravity, fluidity, earth, air, fire, water, space, and light. This is not something that we are making up, rather these are the felt qualities linked to the process and unfolding of wisdom and freedom in the mind and body; of liberating the dormant serpent energy at the base of the spine. We are developing layered patterns of experience that wake up the body and unblock the rivers of energy in our system, and as these rivers become unblocked a great and natural joy begins to fill the networks of interrelationships that form the body-mind consciousness. As these currents of energy begin to open we then begin our journey back down the River of Milk; riding upon the great serpent energy that constitutes the substratum of the universe. In the words of Mason Jennings, "how deep is that river?" Join me and we will find out together.
