A lesson in yoga

It's been some time since I really had a practice during and after which lots of 'emotional' stuff arose. A lot of it was triggered by the fact that my Coccyx is more bruised than I thought and is proving to be quite limiting. Even taking rest in at the end is uncomfortable as a lot of pressure is brought to bear by the body's weight at the base of the spine. A few minutes and it just aches too much to remain still.

A lot of frustration seemed to well up and so afterwards I had a read through Matthew Sweeney's comments on the Chakras. The 2nd Chakra - Svadisthana - is located at the Sacral Plexus (Coccyx) and is where interaction of Emotion and Body takes place.

Reading further onto other sections I came once more to the following passage,

"True change is made possible when you are in contact with what is, when you realise what you are. It does not occur when you try to become something you are not. This is delusion. With the latter there can only be a constant war between the desire for what you should be and what you are. This is one of the more troubling truths that most yoga practitioners have to deal with. No amount of asana or pranayama or meditation practice will make you a better person or hasten your development. Nothing will. For there is nothing better than being what you are right now." p28 Astanga Yoga As It Is.

What really interested me today was how deeply rooted the layers of non-acceptance can be and how very intrinsically linked they are to the physical, within the body, and how from this set of circumstances can arise emotions and feelings echoing aspects of the sub- or unconscious life. And the best thing is that yoga can allow awareness of this - with a little help from a teacher sometimes.