Sri Lanka II

By Kirsten Chong
8 September 2009 08:01:00

Sri Lanka II

Its's hot. It's summer for most of the world and this means heat. Unless you are reading this from Australia, New Zealand, Chile or Argentina most of us equate the months of June, Juy and August as hot summer days; trips to the sea, outdoor picnics and long days where the sunshine seems to last until late in the evening.

In Sri Lanka the heat permeates the coast line in almost visible waves. And the air is so thick and sticky you think you can touch it. There is a reason that yogis wake up early and do their salutations to the sun before the sun rises. It is cooler. And there is a reason that yoga styles like Bikram and Hot yoga have developed as it mimics the warmth of Indian weather, where the body is warm and yoga movements are easier. You must breathe to find balance and you must breathe to keep the heat at bay. Sri Lanka, at the southern tip of India, shares this typical Indian heat.

But there is balance as I look toward the sea, my mat beneath me, the mother earth beneath my mat, and the shade of the palms above. The breeze from the sea caresses my skin and allows my soul a moment of rest as I finish my practice and lie in Sivasana. Here my body rests and here my body registers and finds a place within it for the asanas that I have just done. A memory is created, a filing away of activity and neural impulses to create a place to come back to. And while the temptation, or the seemingly obvious opportunity to sleep, is here, my mind and body come to a place of conscious rest. I hear the sounds around me - the sea as it laps at the shore, the wind that whispers in the palm fronds, the insects that hum and birds that sing. My mind wanders in a dream state and yet never leaves me completely, but if I snore and am so tired that I sleep it is because I need it and it is just as it should be.

I let Sivasana, the corpse pose, the resting pose, be a restful and rejuvenating opportunity to reconnect with the macrocosm around me and to balance the microcosm within me. And the slowly I rise, and embrace the heat.

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