We’ve just completed Navaratri at Yogareal. Navaratri literally means nine nights. These nine nights are dedicated to the Goddess or Shakti/Energy within yourself and within the universe. After Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere; the first day after the new moon; marked the start of Navaratri this year on Monday 26th September.
At Yogareal Navaratri means tuning into your breath and consciously breathing and feeling these energies moving through you and around you, supporting you in your journey towards your Higher Self or Svarupa or Natural Free State of Being. By this it means being grounded in your body in this world, feeling elevated, energised, open-hearted and connected to the Shakti or Energy of the universe and your Higher Self.
For the first three nights of Navaratri we honoured Goddess Durga – Warrior Goddess who overcomes all difficulties. Which means making your fire element strong to enable you to meet all the challenges of life with Durga’s serenity and wisdom. Durga has many arms each holding a different weapon or object with which to address the challenges of life – from the sword of discrimination, to the trident which symbolises the transcendence of the 3 Gunas, to the lotus which rises up from the mud into the light. We meditated on Durga and incorporated the posture of Mayurasana (the peacock) into our practice which emanates this energy – beauty, fire, balance, discrimination, and sensitivity, inspiring confidence and joy and of course proper, strong breathing. The peacock has a diet of poisonous snakes, spiders and scorpions and transforms this into its beautifully coloured feathers – this symbolises the ability to digest the nectar and poison of life and triumph over adversity.
For the next three nights we honoured Goddess Lakshmi – Goddess of Love and Abundance. Goddess Lakshmi’s four arms are symbolic of “The Four Goals of Life” Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha. Dharma – right action, at the right time and place, with the right intention, for the upliftment of everyone. Artha – Wealth. Kama – Pleasure. Moksha – Liberation – or sitting back in the Higher Mind or Self, as the witness or Unity Consciousness State, observing the lower mind and senses. Lakshmi’s lower two hands which symbolise wealth and pleasure respectively are open, signifying that these things come and go in life. The lotuses Lakshmi holds in her two upper hands signify that Dharma and Moksha are our true wealth, and they are the eternal principles through which we filter our engagement with wealth and pleasure in order to live a balanced, happy, healthy and fulfilling life. We meditated on Lakshmi and incorporated into our practice the balance posture Vasisthasana with the top foot on the ball. This balance posture, requires alignment, pose and repose, emphasising a longer stronger breath, to enable the consciousness to work definitely and at the same time sit back and observe.
For the final three nights we honoured Goddess Sarasvati – Goddess of Knowledge (particularly Higher Knowledge), Subtle Speech (communication), and the Arts (particularly music / sound vibration / mantra). Sarasvati also has four arms. In two of her hands she holds the Veena – an ancient stringed musical instrument dating back to around 1500 BC, which has 24 frets just as the human spine has 24 vertebrae. In her other two hands she holds a string of mala beads and a book of scriptures emphasising her energy as an expression of Higher Consciousness or Higher Knowledge. Her vehicle is the swan, which in Indian mythology has a unique ability… If you present the swan with a bowl containing a mixture of milk and water the swan is able to drink the milk and leave the water behind. Symbolising the ability to stay connected and nourished by the eternal principles and not be limited by the ephemeral and transitory. Earlier in the week we practiced Hamsasana (swan posture) which is similar to Mayurasana, but more difficult as the fingers are facing forwards. As the Goddess of subtle speech Sarasvati emphasises good communication with oneself and everyone – clear, uplifted and balanced …a quality lacking in a lot of people out there these days…
We listened to the sound of the Veena which took us into a receptive state for meditation on Sarasvati and prepared us for the practice of the SoHam mantra. We then continued with dynamic salutes to the sun so that the fire element was activated strongly and permeated the body creating length, alignment, lightness and full breathing. We then started our work with the sandbag on the diaphragm which encourages slower, longer, deeper breath into the side and back of the lungs; and activating the bottom two chakras so the natural exhale was a lot deeper, longer, lighter and effortless when one removed the sandbag.
The practice at Yogareal is continually evolving and expanding, providing a holistic, grounded and uplifted practice which is essential and available and suitable for everyone.
We welcome you to join us.
Love
Rob & Theresa and the Yogareal Team
