Round Movements in Yoga
Round Movements in Yoga
going inward on the new moon
“So this is how you swim inward. So this is how you flow outwards. So this is how you pray.”
-Mary Oliver
The New Moon and Going Inward
Hi Yoga Mamas! Here we are on the first new moon of autumn and I’d like to offer some explorations on sensing yourself from the inside. The new moon is a great time for self-reflection and introspection. As we bring our attention inward, we can notice how movements and postures affect us on all levels, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Sometimes when we do postures, we get caught up in making the perfect shape: where do my feet go, how should I hold my spine, what do I do with my arms, which direction do I look? Sometimes that gets too rigid (or even harmful if you try to force yourself into a particular posture or shape). Let’s practice based more on what’s happening on the inside, and not as much as how we look on the outside.
Trust yourself: sensing into your body
Maybe you’ve tried yoga but you’ve worried a bit about having the right alignment; or maybe you’re new to yoga and feel hesitant to learn a little on your own because you don’t know the right alignments.
Alignment is key to comfort, stability, ease of movement, and preventing injury. But sometimes obsessing about what-goes-where can create some rigidity. Sometimes we might go to a class and put more faith in the teacher’s advice about how to place your body to the point where we forget to check in and see if that advice actually feels good.
I’m not here to say you can’t trust teachers, nor am I saying that they have all the answers to how you should position yourself on your mat. Teachers are so important in giving you guidance along your yoga path, AND at a certain point, if you stick with yoga you will get many opportunities to exercise a couple of very important skills: interoception and intuition. For this post, I’m going to focus on interoception and save the topic of intuition for a post later this year:)
What is interoception?
You know how sometimes your little one seems upset by everything? And then you find out they were just hungry and either couldn’t express it or didn’t realize it? You probably have had times when your behavior was less-than-ideal because of fatigue, hunger, or just not being able to meet your own needs (ah! The constant struggle in motherhood!).
These are times when interoception — the skill of sensing what’s going on within your body — isn’t quite functioning. At those times, you might be stuck in your thoughts and worries or just too busy with daily tasks and work to slow down enough to notice what’s going on inside.
Slow down. You don’t have to stop completely. Sometimes just taking a brief pause, simplifying your day, or moving with less hurry can give you the space you need to practice interoception.
But slowing down is just the first step. The next one is to ask yourself some questions like:
How do I feel right now (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually)?
Can I feel my feet on the ground?
How is my posture?
What feels good in my body? What doesn’t feel very good?
How is my breathing (slow, fast, shallow, deep, smooth, irregular)?
What do I need right now (i.e., am I hungry, tired, thirsty, feeling unwell, too hot or cold, feeling pain or discomfort, feeling easeful and comfortable, etc..)?
You might not ask yourself every one of these questions. Sometimes, you might not be able to recall all of them, or you might just ask a general “What’s going on inside?” or “How do I feel?” The more you do this, the better you’ll get at listening to your body and its needs.
And yes, you can do this while you are moving, either on your yoga mat, while you’re walking or exercising, nursing or feeding the baby, or doing housework. You can even do this while you’re driving, just keep your eyes on the road, ha!
Just add movement
It always intrigues me when I do some yoga or other type of movement and notice tension in my body that I didn’t know was there. It’s so easy to go on autopilot and cruise through the day without really sensing into our bodies. Sometimes all it takes is just a small movement that we aren’t accustomed to and with that little shift we can stir up our habitual tensions and stuck spots.
I write a lot about taking brief pauses during the day to check in. In July I wrote a post on choosing a ‘pause pose’ that you can get into at various times throughout the day as a way to slow down and pay more attention to ourselves (because aren’t the kids always scrambling for our attention?). In this post I want to invite you to drop the idea of a pose and add some circular movements. Try it from the head down:
Circle the neck and head in one direction, then the other,
Circle the shoulders forward, then back.
Circle the hips to the right, then the left.
Circle the knees right, then left.
Circle the ankles in one way, then the other.
Do a dance of your own creation with these circular movements. Maybe even stand in one spot and spin, do a somersault, do a cartwheel, or lie down and roll in one direction then the other (these are all just extras! Only do them if they feel great to you:)
Here’s a little video to guide you through some of these movements (and to see how you can practice despite chaos, lol):
After some round movements, stand, sit, or lie still and check in. How do you feel? Ask yourself some or all of the same six questions above. Did you like this little experiment? Would you do it again? Pro tip: when you have small children that love to jump on you while you’re trying to do some peaceful, low-to-the-ground yoga poses, this can be a great alternative. They might even join in!
Happy New Moon, Mamas! I hope the practice in the post brings you some stress relief, joy, and wonder at all that your body can do. Jai Ma!