“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.” – Rumi
Weekly Focus: Raga (attachment)
Raga is one of the five kleshas or causes of suffering. It translates as desire, passion, attraction and attachment. Raga creates the invitation to release our attachments and find more freedom from what we cling to.
This week the new moon rises, a perfect time to discuss non-attachment and release. The new moon is a clear, open invitation to setting new intentions and making new resolves. And just as the leaves around us fall to the earth, we are invited to release our attachments and to shed the excess layers that are no longer serving us.
Raga builds a cycle – as we attach ourselves to possessions, people, experiences and desires, we find ourselves constantly wanting more. This builds off of Asteya, last week’s theme.
Often, we talk about spring cleaning, but Autumn is a great time to let go of the excess, so why not practice autumn cleaning? This practice allows us to clear our space and our home, both physically and mentally for the winter month’s ahead. This week, we are invited to reflect on our attachments. Attachments might arise in many forms: attachment to work, attachment to control, attachment to travel, attachment to pride, attachment to material possession, attachment to status…etc, etc. It’s not that having these things is inherently bad, but are we attaching our happiness and fulfillment to them? If they were taken away, how would you feel?
What do you find yourself clinging to, and is it satisfying a need, or a want? Is it bringing you contentment or discontentment? Is the fulfillment permanent or temporary? By first recognizing these attachments, we can then actively practice finding release.
Here are a few simple practices in releasing from our attachments:
- “Autumn-Clean” your house — take a weekend to sift through perhaps just one closet of your home. Look at each item with curiosity. Do you want to keep it? Are you attached to it emotionally? Why? Let yourself ponder and reflect on each item. You can take the Marie Kondo approach, and if you are ready to let it go, thank the item for the joy it brought you, and set it aside to let go.
- “Autumn-Clean” your mental space — take 5 minutes to sit and reflect. Build a list of anything in your life that brings you stress. After 5 minutes, browse the list, and see what you can let go of. If you find yourself feeling attached, ask yourself: Is this essential for me to be happy? Is it essential that I am part of this? Cross off any item you are ready to release and make plans to drop these stressors from your life.
- “Autumn-Clean” your relationships — take 5 minutes to sit and reflect. Build a list of any relationship in your life that brings your stress or unhappiness. As you look back at the list, consider which relationships are important enough to maintain, and which have stopped adding fulfillment to your life. You may even consider how you can adjust your relationship to that person so that it no longer becomes a stressor, but rather, it becomes a space of fufillment again.
Passive Pose of the Week: Jathara Parivartasana (reclined twist)
Twists are a common metaphor for release and letting go. Wring and squeeze out the sticky attachments in Jathara Parivartasana.
- Begin lying on the floor with the soles of the feet on the ground, the knees pointing up to the ceiling.
- Lift your hips and shift them 1 – 2 inches to the right. Drop your knees to the left.
- If it is comfortable you can straighten the legs out, keeping them stacked. If that doesn’t feel good, keep the knees bent.
- Arms can go wide, and your gaze can turn any direction that feels comfortable.
- Use about [3] breaths to gradually enter the pose. Wants you come to your most comfortable posture, take about [7] breaths before gently coming back through center, and switching sides.
This is a delicious pose to linger in, and props can make it even more luxurious. If you find yourself holding tension in the top leg, try squeezing a blanket or a bolster between the legs, as seen in the picture above. If you want to deepen the twist and release the low back, you can try propping your hips and legs up on a bolster, so you are in a gentle bridged position in the twist. Finally, if you cannot get the right shoulder to drop down, try place just a small bit of blanket beneath your left shoulder.
Active Pose of the Week: Spinal Waves
Spinal Waves build a cyclical flow in our body, helping to churn up stagnant and sticky sensation or energies. You can think of these positions like a churn, pulling up attachments from the depths of our Self.
- Begin in downward facing dog pose.
- Inhale and round your back forward to plank. Think about a “cat back” as you move, leading with the space between your shoulders.
- From plank pose, exhale and push your hips back to downward facing dog.
- Continue with this “wave” as many times as you like.
- To add on, once you come forward to plank pose, continue the wave-like action of the spine and let the hips drop into an upward facing dog, then press back to downward facing dog.
- Move as fast or as slow as you like, and take rest when you need.
We recommen taking the inhale forward and the exhale back, but you might try switching up your breath to see what you notice. There is no one way to breathe, and either breath pattern is an option. What happens if you exhale forward into plank, and inhale back into downward facing dog? Does this leave you with a different sensation or feeling either physically, emotionally or mentally? Try not to be attached to the one way of breathing, and give yourself permission to explore and play!
Join us in class this week to practice your release of raga and attachments. See the full schedule HERE.
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