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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
