Returning again and again - Repetition with Humility
Here in the United States, we are getting ready to recognize Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of the summer season. We are on the cusp of the season of RETURN...we might be lucky and blessed enough to have returned home from summer camps and retreats, road trips, or family vacations. We now notice the shift of light in the early evening sky, the air feels a little cooler in the morning.
For me and my family, this season also leads into the Jewish New Year and the High Holidays. We are in the Hebrew month of Elul, which is not only about making practical plans - such as where and how we'll gather - but also about Teshuva or spiritual preparation to return again.
The notion of returning again and again reminds me of doing things over and over - repetition and humility. It acknowledges that none of us are perfect - we will continuously be works in progress. We make mistakes and we always strive to refine our behavior and relationships.
This time of year, you can often find me leading yoga classes in synagogues to prepare our bodies, hearts and minds for the spiritual work of the weeks leading us to the High Holidays.
You may wonder...how can we explore and embody the season of return in a yoga class?
Whether we are returning to:
school, to work, to home or with family,
or to a house of worship...
the yoga practice invites us to look inward, to renew our energy and to be generous and expansive in our capacity to move through the world on and off of the yoga mat...like a mensch - a person of awareness, integrity, kindness, humility and compassion.
As I have shared within my yoga classes, every yoga posture and category of poses carries energetics, that inner quality that can guide us toward deeper meaning, understanding and connection.
Forward Bending: turns our gaze inward and promotes introspection and prayer
Revolving: Stimulates and releases stagnant energy and invites renewal
Backbending: generates expansive energy to experience more spacious awareness