We get glimpses through yoga practice of how intricately everything is connected. Without a conscious directive of mind, an inhalation expands the chest making room for the heart to float as a reminder that our true nature is spaciousness of heart. Love. If we’re lucky, we breathe out and notice feet touching earth. We become grounded and awake, tuning in to layers of perception—mind, body, and emotion.
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Back in the early ’90s, Richard began giving Studio Talks at the Yoga Workshop on Sundays after the afternoon Mysore class. Often he would begin the talks by leading a chant and then as he explained the chant, the lecture would unfold from there. Chanting is a way not only to focus the mind on ideas presented in traditional texts and to offer devotion to powerful messages of the teachings, but it is also a remarkable way of dropping into the body. It’s a practice. When we chat the exhale is extended as in pranayama, but because we’re not calling it pranayama it can sometimes be a more easeful exhalation. Vibrations from the chant can be experienced throughout the body. This automatically calms the mind as we become absorbed in the sensations, sounds, or meaning of what we are chanting.
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