DAILY February 5, 2010 #260
What a bizarre and curious thing is love; mis-matching partners with mis-shapen hearts; aligning the terrifying and the boring, the exacting and sloppy, the imaginary and all too real. Wowsa, sign me up for that conundrum! Indeed. If we ever knew the wild ride we were in for when we stepped up for love, I fear only the foolish would sign on the dotted line. But as the song says, “love is all there is.” We signed on when we grew a heart.
Maybe we’d love more realistically if we got yearning and demands out of the away. Perhaps we’d love more intelligently if we knew who we were, never mind who they are. And there might be softer curves to the hard landing when love leaves, if we didn’t expect so much. Alas, such is not love. Love was really made for our foolish, weak, un-intelligent, ugly, boorish, fearful voices, for without its tender mercies we would not accept the odd, mis-aligned selves that show up as our lovers, friends, children, parents, and partners, those who hold up mirrors to what ails us.
Love grows as weirdly vulnerable and profoundly radical as our own mis-shapen heart allows. How else can we be brave/foolish enough to offer them to another?
Asana: Salamba Sirsasana/Head Stand, the king of poses. If you are nervous about falling, practice in a corner to help correct alignment, and offer feelings of safety, otherwise, come onto knees center floor, interlock fingers, cupping back of head in palms, with elbows under the shoulders, crown of head on floor. Straighten legs, moving hips over shoulders, and lift straight legs one at a time, or bend knees and roll up. Stretch legs strongly up, keep eyes open, and maintain weight on head, not arms. Breathing slowly, stay as long as possible, coming down one leg at a time.
Health Notes: There are many reasons this is called the ‘king of poses’ not the least of which are it places the heart above the head. It soothes the brain, bringing fresh blood to cells, and the pituitary and pineal glands of the brain. When we are suffering from love, it is really important to practice headstands so we might grow calmer, more spiritually and emotionally balanced, and self-reliant.
(do not practice this if you have high or low blood pressure)
Astrology Notes: Valentine Day falls in the fixed air sign Aquarius, which is primarily concerned with expanding intellectual qualities. Despite being an air sign, it is called the ‘water bearer,’ but this is the water of enlightenment, the ‘water’ of hope that mankind grow in wisdom. Aquarius sits across the zodiac from Leo, the fixed fire sign of the heart. These two energies face-off, giving the individual capacity to love personally and passionately, with the revolutionary desire for the freedom to have unconventional relationships.
Ayurvedic Notes: Prana, or life energy, is located in the head. It controls not only mental functions of memory, and thought, but emotions and the psychological understanding of the heart. It enters the blood, controlling oxygenation, circulation, and respiration. It also governs motor and sensory functions, and expresses in the intelligence of the body. Each of the doshas play a vital role in maintaining prana: Pitta governs nutrition and digestion, Vata oversees all life functions, and Kapha maintains cellular longevity. Through maintaining a balance of the three we grow old gracefully, fully, in love with life.
(Notes from Dr. Vasant Lad, ”Ayurveda, The Science of Self Healing.”)
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