Receiving: A Yoga Theme on the Divine Feminine

what it means to create openness through yoga

photo courtesy of Saffu on Unsplash

Opening up

“I sit before flowers hoping they will train me in the art of opening up.”

-Shane Koyczan

Spring is coming; I imagine a flower opening up to the rays of the slowly warming sun. It is the iconic image of the feminine energies of nature opening up to receive the masculine energy of the sun.

Let’s explore the idea of opening up as a way of embodying the Divine Feminine.

Why? And what does this have to do with yoga? When I first began offering this newsletter, my daughter was 2-years-old and I had been slowly realizing that since becoming a mom, my yoga practice would never be the same. My life had opened up to another human being who was completely dependent on me. This radical change that some call matrescence brings all of us mothers face-to-face with a very intensive form of feminine energy — as moms, we are called to be more intuitive, gentle, accepting, and cooperative as we learn new ways to cope. As our lifestyles change, our approach to yoga either changes or gets neglected.

Motherhood lasts for life and our bodies, minds, and spirits will never be the same; how can we ever go back to how we practiced yoga before (some of you might not have practiced yoga before kids, so you have a sort of clean slate here:)? To stay healthy and balanced, our approach to yoga should be different than it was before we had kids. Looking through the frame of the Divine Feminine can be a very empowering, inspiring way to approach a practice that was traditionally mostly for males.

I hope you don’t get tripped up on the word ‘Divine,’ though. If you don’t consider yourself spiritual, or this idea doesn’t immediately click with you, wait a minute. Please entertain, for just a moment, the possibility that the Divine Feminine is a creative concept for helping us bring balance into our lives and it is very much about opening up, being receptive, gentle, and heart-centered. Let me explain.

Think of the Divine Feminine as a way of personifying certain qualities in nature. Here is a lovely article on the topic and as it says there, you don’t have to be a woman to honor the Divine Feminine. In yoga, though, acknowledging and celebrating the feminine is all about infusing our yoga practice with certain qualities or bhavana: It’s not to say that we should only embody feminine energy, either — we need both masculine and feminine energy. But as I mentioned above, most people that practice yoga the way it is generally presented in the mainstream — where it is often presented as more of a physical workout than a mind-body discipline — could use the softening effect that feminine energy has on the practice.

To practice from a more feminine perspective, you don’t need to believe in anything you don’t already believe in. It’s not about believing or changing your beliefs at all; it’s more about opening up your eyes and other senses to really take in the world around you. It’s about being receptive to your current situation so that you can know where to put effort and where to let go of effort. Whatever you believe on a spiritual or philosophical level, the idea of the Divine Feminine offers us a more balanced approach to yoga that helps us engage with ourselves, other people, and our surroundings.

Maybe Starhawk put it best: “People often ask me if I believe in the Goddess. I reply, ‘Do you believe in rocks?’ It is extremely difficult for most Westerners to grasp the concept of manifest deity. The phrase ‘believe in’ itself implies that we cannot know the Goddess, that She is somehow intangible, incomprehensible. But we do not believe in rocks — we may see them, touch them, dig them out of our gardens…We know them; we connect with them. In the Craft, we do not believe in the Goddess — we connect with Her; through the moon, the stars, the ocean, the earth, through trees, animals, through other human beings, through ourselves.”

Hint: the end goal of yoga isn’t just to achieve a certain level of fitness/balance or whatever you’re striving for in yoga. The more important stuff is getting to know ourselves, our arms, legs, torsos, minds, emotions, aspirations, breath…see the parallel with what Starhawk said?

If the Divine Feminine invites us to open up, then the question here is: how can we open ourselves up to receive the gifts of yoga? 

Our seasonal focus

Before I wax poetic about opening up in yoga and in motherhood, I just want to acknowledge that boundaries are important, too and that opening up doesn’t mean that we put ourselves at the mercy of everything that comes our way.

Boundaries help us open up in a balanced way; we can selectively open up as we set intentions about how we are opening up, what parts of ourselves we’re opening, and why. Here’s a really basic, everyday example: in order to really connect with our kids and open up to them, we need to put boundaries on how much we expect to get done in a day. If we just fly around frantically trying to keep up with an ever-expanding to-do list, we’ll be too busy and stressed to really be present with our little ones. Boundaries, then, are part of opening up and being receptive to what is important to us.

As we move closer to the spring season, there’s a natural urge to open up, to be more extroverted and active as the weather warms up. I’m hoping you were inspired to hunker down and take it easy with our previous seasonal theme, curling inward, though.  It’s all part of the resting cycle that nature invites us to repose in and now nature — spring — is inviting us to unlock what’s been tucked away in the darkness of winter.

Once we’re open, then how do we receive? And what is it we’re actually receiving from our yoga practice? It can be different for everyone, since we all have different needs, goals, and experiences. I’m hoping that this call to undo our winter layers, so to speak, helps you define your own personal needs and goals within your yoga practice. Care to share? Comment on the post below and keep us all interested and inspired! Not sure yet? Maybe something will reveal itself in the coming weeks as we unpack this theme.

Bringing it into the body and mind

What about a physical example of opening up? Since asana is a strong, vital part of this practice, it helps to think in terms of how we translate this concept into our poses and movement. In the coming weeks, I’ll share some guidance on creating stability in your yoga practice so that your mobility increases (and makes it easier for you to open up in a healthy, balanced way). I’ll also touch upon using the breath to create a sense of openness. We’ll also explore expanding our perspectives by using yoga philosophy to see things in a more balanced way (it all sounds lofty and ambitious, I know, but these concepts have all been brewing in my mind the past several months and it’s time to share them!).

For now, I’ll share a mudra to help us embody a sense of opening and reflection. It’s called Padma Mudra (Lotus Mudra). I don’t know about you, but I never felt a sense of opening in Padmasana (Lotus Pose) because I don’t have the flexibility to stay there comfortably, but Padma Mudra is much more accessible for most. Here is an article about it and below I’ll share a little video.

Until next Friday’s post, what do you think of when you think of opening up in your yoga practice? What does it mean to you to be receptive as you practice postures, movement, and breath awareness? These are questions I hope to answer in the next 5-6 weeks and I’d love to hear your perspective, too! 

And if you already include the Divine Feminine in your practice, how has it helped you? I know that sharing this can feel vulnerable; believe me, I hesitated to even write this post for fear of chasing away the readers who don’t want to hear about spirituality, the Goddess, or any deep philosophical, soulful themes, but you know what? It’s a genuine sharing of my own practice, so there ya go. I aim to be authentic rather than just to please people.

Given the wider scope of this seasonal theme, I will most likely veer a bit from the weekly structure I’ve been following since Fall Equinox 2023. I still plan to post weekly, though! I’ve been wanting to include some posts on topics such as the koshas, bhavana, and the elements as they relate to the Divine Feminine and to our seasonal theme, so I’m taking this wave of inspiration to touch upon these as we move through the spring season:)

I hope you got some inspiration from this post. If you know someone else that would enjoy it too, please share!

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