The Vishuddha and the Very Honest with Chris at Yoga Loka: Reno, Nevada: September 24, 2018
Shiva, the god of transformation and of yoga, is often portrayed as blue which is the color of the throat chakra. One of Shiva’s names is Nilakantha, the blue-throated one.
The sage Socrates, who said “physician heal thyself” is the same sage that said “an unexamined life isn’t worth living”. How can we possibly heal ourselves unless we come to honestly know ourselves? The practices of yoga are about swadyaya, usually translated as Self Study, and a reminder it’s not so much self improvement, its self study. (PYS 2.1) Its about the mental blocks that keep us from our true nature of Love. The anahata, heart center, translates ‘unbeaten, unstruck, unbroken’.
David came down with a sore throat and chest cold so we had to postphone three shows, unwind the tour and everybody on it, and trek all the way home. Be careful of what you wish for, I secretly said to myself, because I was enjoying my pre-tourtime in Reno, teaching and practicing at Yoga Loka, and the beautiful late summer weather so much that I really didn’t want to leave.
The universe does listen to you and does provide your deep desires so I was happy to come home for a short stretch, but also I was a little resentful that David got sick. He should take better care of himself , I thought. He should protect his voice more, I thought.
The next thing you know I started to ache in the throat. At first as a result of a crick in my neck from sleeping in a weird way. The left side of my neck, from the base of my skull to T7 felt like an unyielding steel cable. Then the pain moved inside and is beginning to manifest in a sore throat and flu just like what David caught. Me! My yoga stretching, carrot juicing, doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, plant based diet self is starting to get sick, against all odds of self care.
Being resentful always backfires. It is said holding a grudge is like they drinking poison and expecting the other person to die from it.
Throat mischief is a bigger issue for me whether it be surface in the muscles, or deeper down into my glands. The throat is the location of the vishuddhi chakra. It governs our communication and self expression, our ability to speak our Truth. But we are doing this all the time, really. Because the left recurrent laryngeal nerve dips down into the heart to give rise to your voice, serving both the heart and the laryx.
We are always speaking from the heart because the left recurrent larygeal dips into her to give rise to the voice. Therefore the practices of yoga are here to help us ‘purify’ our hearts.
Vishuddhi means ‘to purifly’ What we are saying, to others and to ourselves, is direct evidence of what’s in our hearts. Harsh speech and self talk is hurtful and the practices are here to purify our hearts so communication is more loving. So we act more loving. So we be more True since we are Love.
While I’m downing vitamin C and ginger-lemon tea, the deeper healing must be found in my own heart. While stretching and moving in Chris’s class this morning my main practice was clearing out the bitter pill of resentment and replacing it with a mixture of gratitude and a sense of adventure as we make our way this morning back out on tour. The shift in thoughts affected how my body felt. Because its all connected, the sages remind us. And it permeates our life as it affects both our conscious and subconscious, where resentment and negative thinking hide, unchecked, unless we make an effort to understand what lies within.
A little post lunch stretch in San Juan Capistrano. I try to practice as much as possible, as many techniques as possible, whenever possible. xoxo
Patanjali’s yoga sutra 2.36 says, “ As truthfulness (satya) is achieved, the fruits of actions naturally result according to the will of the Yogi.”(satya pratisthayam kriya phala ashrayatvam). This is huge. If I want more love in my life, then I must think, act, say, and be more loving. Duh.
Instead of being upset with David, I’m bringing him tea. And while I’m at it, I’ll drink from the same cup of love and compassion. I’m super changing this practice with prayer for continued healing and a run of some of the best shows ever.
Health, Love, and Rock N Roll