The Stop Sign of the Soul
pause, inhale, reach up
saluting the ocean at Bodega Bay, CA (2013)
"If we surrendered to earth's intelligence, we could rise up rooted, like trees."
—Rainer Maria Rilke
That Fall Funk
Happy Fall, Yoga Mamas! We just passed the halfway point between the first day of Fall (Autumn Equinox) and the first day of Winter (Winter Solstice) and it’s taken me all that time to really sink into the vibe of this season. I love this time of year and at the same time, Autumn can bring a sort of sadness and melancholy (depending on the climate you live in, and if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, then Happy Spring!).
I’ve definitely been in sort of a funk off and on this Fall. It’s typical, though, to get the blues during the colder, darker half of the year, and I used to try to use yoga to push away difficult feelings when I realized that you could actually get a high off a good yoga session. The tricky thing is, though, that sometimes moving and breathing on the yoga mat just brings up all the things that have been lurking in the dark corners of your mind. I’d like to think I have a more balanced approach now, where I observe whatever I feel and experience during my practice and know that it’s all just passing through. Still, I hit some low points now and then.
The first time depression really stopped me in my tracks was when I was 25 years old. It was coupled with panic attacks, agoraphobia, and just general difficulty in leaving my house, going to school, work, or functioning in any normal way. I wish I could say that yoga pulled me out of it, but it was actually more riding my bike long distances and therapy that got me through (perhaps these can be considered a unique form of yoga, if done with a yogic mindset?). My therapist at the time cued me into the work of Karla McLaren, who connects questions to the various emotions. She says that anger asks what boundary needs to be set, sadness asks what we need to let go of, fear/anxiety ask what action needs to be taken, and depression is the stop sign of the soul.
The Stop Sign of the Soul! I found that to be a compelling nickname for such a heavy emotion. In my most creative mindset, I tend to think of yoga practice as a moment of pause, not quite a stop sign, but a yellow light or a ‘slow down’ sign for the body, mind, and soul. I’ve written in the past about using yoga to get closer to the ground during the Fall season, and it’s nice to mirror the falling, grounding actions of nature sometimes. But sometimes there’s too much downward momentum and we need a lift.
I know I need a lift these days. It can be hard to practice yoga when you’re in a funk, though. If that’s true for you, please allow me to encourage you: practice anyway, no matter how that looks for you. Sometimes when you’re in a funk, a brief moment on the mat is more refreshing and feasible than going to a class. And anyways, no need to seek that high you might get from an hour+ long class. Just be with your funk, or the tension in your body, or your busy mind. You’ll be on the upswing whenever you’re truly ready.
Perhaps we can say that what goes down must come up (eventually)? That’s one of my yoga hypotheses for now…
just an old photo of my ‘fallen tree pose,” grounded, yet rising up through that arm (2019)
Root to Rise
You may have heard the cue ‘root to rise’ in a yoga class. In other words, like a tree, you have to have strong roots for your branches to grow up and out. Rising up, though, isn’t just pure upward momentum. We have to establish a strong foundation to rise up from.
In Ayurveda, which is the ‘sister science’ to yoga, there’s an idea called the wisdom of the opposites. Basically, the idea is that if you have too much heat in your body or mind, you use something cooling to counteract it (even if it’s just something as simple as drinking some water or slowing down). Another example of the wisdom of the opposites might be that if you have a lot of dryness in your constitution, you might try to bring moisture into your diet or daily routine, perhaps by hydrating more often, eating foods with more fats and oils, or by oiling the skin.
That’s where I got this idea that, as much as I love celebrating that downward energy of the Fall season and embodying it in my yoga practice, I thought it could also be helpful to bring in some upward energy during this time of year. That doesn’t necessarily mean high-energy or fast movements. We can bring slow moving, rising energy that keeps us grounded.
Let’s slow things down so we can ‘root to rise’ with more attention and intention; let’s take things down a notch so that we can reach upward from a place of being grounded.
standing, root to rise, at Cloudgate a.k.a. the Bean in Chicago, IL (2012)
Sit to stand
There was a study done in 2012 on the connection between a person’s longevity and their ability to stand from a sitting position. Obviously, if you can’t stand from a sitting position, it won’t cause your death, but they found that there was a correlation between the difficulty someone might have with performing the exercise and increased mortality. Of course, people with more mobility and a higher level of fitness are generally healthier and that’s what’s being measured in the study. Here’s another recent article on the topic to clarify.
I’m not trying to sell anyone on this; I can’t promise a longer life with yoga practice, but I can guess that your quality of life will be better with a regular yoga practice. Why? The more strength and mobility we have, the more ease and joy we probably have (psychological problems aside…). Of course, someone with an injury or physical limitation could live a long, happy, healthy life without being able to stand from a seated position.
Given all that, let’s embody that idea of going from high to low; let’s ‘root to rise’ both physically and energetically. Here are a few simple ways we can get that grounded yet lifted feeling in our bodies:
From a seated position (on the ground, yoga prop, or chair), just feel the lift of your spine through the top of your head.
From a squat, rise up to standing with arms overhead (Urdhva Hastasana).
Jump!
From a reclined position, move to standing.
From Prasarita, move arms and torso side to side with arms up, tracing an arc overhead. Then, hinge forward and back at the level of the hips and as your bend back, open the chest upward.
From a reclined position, stretch legs up and press the soles of the feet toward the sky (knees bent or straight).
Relish your inhalations; notice in which positions they feel most natural and full.
The breath is key in feeling that rising energy while also staying grounded. Jennilee Toner says in her article, Preventing yoga injuries: the breath, prana and the vayus:
“If allowed to flow freely without any physiological, psychological or energetic blockages, life force energy via breath inhaled wants to propel us forward and up; life force exhaled wants to draw us back and down, and in the pause between our inhales and exhales (or when we find ourselves in utter stillness) the swirling sensations of life can be felt coursing through our body.”
That’s an apt description for the subtle aspects of what it means to ‘root to rise.’ Now for a little video love from me on how to bring simple ways of giving yourself a little grounded lift; no extreme flexibility or strength required, but I’ll provide some options for you to take it up a notch in intensity if you like!
Beyond the stop sign
If you ever do find yourself at that Stop Sign of the Soul — and many of us mamas do, at one point or another — know that it’s just one point on the road. It might feel like the road itself, but that’s only because you haven’t gotten yourself up and moving. So, as hard as it may be, make sure you have something to shake up that stagnation. I’m not a doctor, therapist, or psychologist (and I do recommend you work with such professionals if you struggle with depression, other difficult emotions, and low energy), but I am your fellow Yoga Mama and I know that sometimes the going gets rough.
Most of all, I hope this post has inspired you to look beyond the shape of yoga poses and start to sense the energy in them. If you can pause in a pose and ask yourself, how does this modify or direct my energy? Does this give me a sense of upward energy, or lift, or does it encourage my energy to move downward? Sometimes it can do both! Or maybe you feel a sense of expansion or contraction (for instance, inhalation expands, exhalation contracts). For some, it helps to find words to describe their energy (slow, fast, low, high, contracting, expanding, spiraling in, spiraling out, erratic, steady). For others, a sound or an image might work. I’m thinking now of how I’ve read about mamas preparing for birth with images of flowers blossoming open as a way of encouraging them to embody expansion, opening up, and dilation to allow the baby to emerge!
Most of all, sense into what it is you need. Sometimes I really do like to move my energy downward and get close to the ground so that I’m really vibing with the energy of Autumn and falling leaves. Other times I need that lift in my energy. Pause, inhale, exhale, and move (or stay still). Yoga is part practice, part play.
I hope you enjoyed this post! My aim is to share the deeper aspects of yoga, not just the poses, but the breath, philosophy, and mindfulness beneath it all. My other aim is to bring Yoga Mamas together to practice and share, so please comment if you have any questions or just want to bring your thoughts to light here. The more this becomes a conversation, and not just me on a soapbox dispensing advice on yoga, the better! Thanks so much for being here.
If you know other mamas who would love to craft a yoga practice that fits in with their busy lives, please share the love:)
I love all of this so much, especially this:
"She says that anger asks what boundary needs to be set, sadness asks what we need to let go of, fear/anxiety ask what action needs to be taken, and depression is the stop sign of the soul."
That is some valuable insight. 🤎