“Bhujangasana means serpent. In this posture, lie flat on the floor, face downwards, lift the body up from the trunk and throw the head back like a serpent about to strike.” – B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga
Today, I felt like a serpent about to strike. My day began at 6 am and I didn’t stop moving until 9 pm. I felt harried, wired, and exhausted all at once. When I came home, the last thing I felt like doing was practicing. But, I rolled out my mat for a few Sun Salutations.
A whole new world opened up. My breath guided my mind, the furrows in my brow vanished, and before I knew it I was lost inside the simple beauty of Surya Namaskar. Bhujangasana is a pose I practice every day as part of Sun Salutations, but today it resonated with me more than usual. On a day when I felt venomous, Bhujangasana felt like an elixir. The basic beauty of expanding my chest and my breath transformed the sharp edges of my mind into free space. I tilted my heart up to the sky as an offering to the innate perfection of the present moment, as a testament to my deepest knowledge that only the now counts and that the past 15 hours were just that: past.
“Every conscious step we make, a flower blooms under our feet. We can do this only if we linger not in the past or future, but know that life can be found only in the present moment.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Tags: be here now, Bhujangasana, Iyengar, Light on Yoga
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