Alignment

I have been teaching classes around the systems of the body and last week endeavoured to bring awareness to the skeletal system — this matrix of crystalline support within our being. The invitation was to move from the bones, which allows us to feel a sense of grounding, clarity and precision in our movements. But this system also invites us to contemplate our alignment — not just in our bones, bodies, and posture, but also in our lives. Because when we are out of alignment in our bodies we feel pain, discomfort and suffering. When we are out of alignment in our lives it shows up in the same way: we feel pain, discomfort and suffering.

Our bones are the stable Earth inside of us. The minerals we find in them are the same as what we find in rock. So the earth is in our bones as much as it’s beneath our feet. And because we have something called interoception, which means “to feel or sense from the inside”, when we take our mind into that part of our being in meditation or in our movement practice, we can enter the felt sense of our bones and be held there.

By cultivating our interoception when we find ourselves unsure of where we are heading we can begin to trust that our body will intelligently cue us and guide us back onto our path. For example I’ve been looking for a new home recently and I applied for a place and actually got the apartment. But as soon as they said, “It’s yours,” my body said, “No it’s not”. It just wasn’t right for me. Equally when I stepped into a different space, what will soon be my actual new home, my body sent me a resounding “Yes!”. The option that aligned with me was really clear. Because I felt it in my bones.

We often say, “I feel it in my bones”, suggesting it is a part of our being that we can trust. By cultivating a relationship with this part of ourselves we can ask, What am I aligning myself with? And does it serve me? 

Am I aligning myself with Facebook distraction or open presence? Am I aligning myself with judgment or self-compassion and care? Because what I have learnt, and am continuing to learn, is that whatever I am aligning myself to, is usually where I end up. The opposing experiences of distraction or presence, judgment or compassion is received into the cells of my body and will determine how I am moving through life. That alignment is pouring into each relationship and situation and setting the course for outcomes in the future.

Our present moment alignment is like setting a ship to a particular course. So it would be naïve to set a ship to course and then expect to end up somewhere else, but we often do this intentions. We may want to be empowered and live a full and rich life. But when we align with certain programming that suggests otherwise (like we are not deserving), we are going to get tripped up somewhere. 

Here’s another question to ponder: Is the course that I’m setting even what I absolutely want? The world we are living in at present has powerful constructs and ideas of how things ‘should’ be. At a certain age and gender there are expectations and requirements for us to have achieved in order to be ‘doing life successfully’. But here’s something to chew on… It’s all made up! And not only that, these societal pressure stem from our collective ego-mind-created illusion of fear around a lack of security and other such make believes. So when we align ourselves to those pressures and expectations we can feel anxious and stressed as to whether we are measuring up or fitting in. 

When we speak about alignment in yoga what we are aligning with is our highest self and highest good and to the intelligence of the force of life itself. That great power that is serving everything is also serving us — if we are open to it’s guidance. 

So our practice is to go back to bare bones. To ask with compassion and to answer with honesty: are my goals, relationships and how I am moving through the world in deep alignment with what is right for me? Does it honour what feels true and  nourishing for my heart? Does anything feel a little ‘not quite right’ or create a bundle of stress in my body? This is ours as individuals to contemplate and discover.

In the Tantric tradition we learn that the universal force that pervades all of life is inherently free. And because we are a part of that energetic web that means we are free too. Free to create our life and choose what we are aligning with.

So what do you choose?

(It’s a great blog achievement to give a nod to The Notebook whilst also pulling out an on-point message… just FYI)

I’ll leave you with this. There will never be another one of you. Not in the history of all of humankind. You will never be repeated. When you align yourself with that truth you will come to know a bigger truth: that makes you a very special being. So armed with that knowing, and while you are here as a guest on this Earth, you owe it to us to let your freak flag fly!

Yours in Yoga,
Aimee xx