Lightness

In the quiet moments on your yoga mat, before your day begins or after the business of the day subsides, there is space for lightness to emerge - a quality of lightness in how we move and how we breathe. This is a quality we can feel our way into. Maybe we find it in the presence of heaviness. Maybe we find it within the freedom of swinging our arms. Lightness invites us to approach our practice with more gentleness and less force. At its core, it is about releasing the need to grip tightly to outcomes, judgments, or expectations and learning to flow with more curiosity, playfulness, and compassion.

We can bring lightness into our physical practice by focusing on our breath. Focus on the natural rhythm as it comes in and out of the nostrils. Bringing curiosity to its rhythm. We can then let the breath guide our movements and see if we can find fluidity rather than muscling through the poses and explore how the body feels as we move with the breath’s natural rhythm. 

Lightness invites us to let go of the idea that our yoga practice needs to be a certain way. We can set the intention for lightness, allowing the wobbles, creating a lift, a softening in the knees as we move and give ourselves permission to explore. When a pose feels heavy, we can check in: Am I gripping or pushing too hard? What is it like to back off and edge back in? Can I use props or find a modification that creates more space and ease? 

The many facial muscles we have constantly send signals to our brain. This is a bi-directional relationship. Sometimes the tension we feel in our mind or as we move shows up in our facial expressions without us even realising it… a clenched jaw, furrowed brows, tension at the tongue. As we learn to tune into what our faces are doing, we can find a quality of lightness by softening the face, wiggling the eyebrows, and creating a gentle smile. Maybe finding a quality of friendliness… It’s not about pretending to be happy when you’re not… It’s about using your expressions to invite more ease. Even when life feels overwhelming, you can signal to your nervous system that it’s safe to relax and soften. 

What would it feel like to bring lightness to our movement practice?

How can it expand our relationship with ourselves and everything we bring to our practice? (Maybe irritation, worry, tiredness…)

Can we be playful and open to experimenting as we move in a way that allows us to gain information about who we are now?