Full Moon of the Yogi ~ Guru Purnima ~ Transforming Our Losses

Erin Reese Teaching Yoga on Guru Purnima 2017

Namaste dear friends:

Today is the Full Moon in Capricorn, a lunation known as Guru Purnima – the full moon of the teacher! Yogis and sages, Buddhists and Hindus typically pay respects to their teachers on this day and express their gratitude. I was deeply honored and grateful to celebrate this day by teaching a yoga class at a local hospice organization where I provide grief and bereavement counseling.

In 2010, I became a Certified Yoga Instructor at Swami Vivekenanda University in Bangalore, South India. While I don’t teach a regular yoga asana class, I practice regularly and am happy to offer this gift to those in need. This morning, on this important Full Moon of the Teacher, I taught a very gentle hour and a half class called “Gentle Yoga for Grief and Loss,” suitable for all levels.

Seven wonderful women showed up. One of them had just lost her sister, and was far too distraught to move about on the mat; she participated in the whole class sitting in a comfortable chair in silence, breathing and being. Her energy and participation were just as palpable, just as meaningful, as those of us doing the whole postures. Yoga is very much a state of being, a way of becoming seated in the Self, the ground of being.

Other folks had various neck, knee, and back limitations; we made modifications with pillows and props throughout. Following my intuition and the energy of the group, I placed particular emphasis on relaxing the muscles of the jaw. At one point, the whole group of us began shaking and bouncing, moving out the excess stress and tension that grief adds to the body. Our arms upraised, we all felt the electricity in the room. I explained that in Buddhist teachings, we transform ‘poison into nectar,’ or amrita, and in this same way, through physical asana postures, we transform the stress and congestion of grief into life force energy, or prana.

Loosened up in body, mind, and spirit, the emotional body is much more able to flow and express itself without resistance. Grieving is hard physical and mental work, whether experienced through death of a loved one, or loss of a life chapter, or end of a relationship. Yoga is a supportive and gentle way to facilitate the grief process, and restore balance in a taxed emotional system. Many tears flowed easily in savasana, resting pose. Hearts were opened, minds settled down, bodies relaxed. 

Together, on this full moon of the guru, the teacher within and without, we came together to transform our losses and ease our personal and universal suffering just that little bit more…

Here is the list of poses we practiced in our 90-minute session:

Easy Yoga for Grief and Loss:

1.      Meditate and Breath

2.      Warmups: shoulder shrugs,

 shoulder rolls, neck stretches, neck rolls

3.      Cat / cow (from table top)

4.      Child’s pose

5.      Sphinx pose

6.      Legs up the wall

7.      Side twists

8.      Happy Baby

9.      Savasana deep relaxation

10.  Closing meditation. Namaste.

OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI

Today, I bow in gratitude to my Teacher, advaita master Ramesh Balsekar (1917-2009), and to all of my great Teachers, past, present and future. I bow to each of You, whom I learn from every day. I bow to Mother Nature and the Goddess Shakti, the Divine Feminine. She is my Mother, and flows through me and of me. I bow to Shiva, Consciousness, the Self, and Existence… here and now, here and now. Never not here. Here and now. Sat Chit Ananda – being *consciousness *peace. Namaste.

Namaste

Erin Reese, Master of Science in Counseling is an author, spiritual teacher, and modern psychic reader based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She works with clients all over the world.

For readings and spiritual counseling by Skype, phone or email, contact her directly at erin@erinreese.com.