Yoga Tip of the Week #3: Balancing Your Opposites

Imagine your body and mind like the string of a cello. An energetic pull on that string from it's base to its scrolling top, will make lovely music. Same with you! If you have energetic balance in your yoga, someone could run a bow along you, and your sound would be rich and full. If you are pulled too tight you might sound sharp, too loose could sound flat; the middle ground is where your body will vibrate right on key. The words hatha yoga translate as sun(ha) and moon(tha) union(yoga). If there were too much sun we would burn, be too hot; too much moon and we would be unable to grow, to wake up. The balance, or union of the two opposites create life. The balance can be the same in your tadasana (mountain) pose. Your feet root you to the floor. Your head is in the clouds, floating on your spine. The energetic balance is full of magic. This is what you breathe into to create life. Its fun to think of all of the opposites that can be balanced in yoga. Try the yogic balance of cool and warm, or of energy and relaxation. There is the energy between effort and surrender, and of remembering and forgetting. Yoga lies in between heaven and earth, liquid and solid, noise and silence, movement and stillness. How do you find the balance between the opposites? By being very quiet and listening to where one element begins and merges into its opposite. That in itself is enough practice for a life time of yoga. om! eva www.livingroomyoga.com