Virabhadrasana III, courtesy of http://practicenotes.net/pose-thumbnails/
I love summer nights when you can be outside, sleeveless, and feel warm and comfortable. I love the heat radiating from a roaring fire. And I love laying in the ocean, cool water supporting me as warm sun shines down on my face. HEAT! I love to bask in it.
Last week I was at yoga class, practicing Virhabadrasana III (pictured), where you stand on one leg with the other 90’ out in back and your arms out in front (like superman flying, ‘cept with one foot on the ground). It is… shall we say, a stimulating pose? A challenge. A confrontation with one’s edge. A heart-thumping, sweat-popping kind of pose. Serene on the outside, a roar of effort within.
Rainey, my teacher, guided us back into a standing forward bend. Whew! Two feet. Then it was down to the floor to rest in child’s pose. Rainey said, “Bask in the heat you’ve generated. Let it radiate.” I felt such joy. I’d generated my own heat. I luvva the baskin’… And it turns out I love it even more when the heat in which I bask is my own.
It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from George Bernard Shaw:
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”
Despite my vast capacity for complaining feverishly about my ailments and grievances, I – like you – take even greater joy in hurling myself into a worthwhile effort and, sweating and panting (physically or metaphorically) basking in the heat I create.
Where in your life would self-generated heat benefit you the most? Whats’s the mighty purpose you can be used for today? Let’s make some heat… whaddaya say?
