I have a BA in Visual Arts, two yoga teacher training certificates (500+ hours) and over twenty years of practice. Yoga assists me in navigating my place in the world and to be my most energized self. I am studying Sanskrit to better understand Indian philosophy and clarify contemporary yoga practice.
“Wash the dust of life off of your soul” has a lot to do with Indian Philosophy around PRANA (life giving force) and what our body does with it. To put it simply- at some point I heard someone refer to the body at the “PRANA shield”. What this means (to me) is the natural filtration of the body has to hold onto some of the muck in order for it to not fully throw off our system. By working with yogic practices we clear off the shield assisting the flow of energy throughout the body. In this case the body and the soul are equated.
Another way we can assist the removal of energies coming from dealing with the excesses of society is by becoming immersed in the Arts. Eyes locked on a painting for hours. Reading a poem other and over until you commit it to memory without really meaning to, similar to all those songs you know the lyrics to when they are playing but if someone randomly asked you to write them down this would be like trying to write in another language. Complete Immersion. Creating art has it too, some call it being in “the flow” but from my personal experience I have began to believe it goes beyond the space of physical creation and can connect to a much more “other worldly” type of phenomenon given the allowance to do so. I am sure there are more things that one can say “wash the dust of life off your soul”, these are the ones that stick with me most.
Two things which have been in my life for an extraordinary amount of time are Art & Yoga. Both have held space for discipline, daily doings, spiritual practices, therapy, income and most of all determination to experience what this life has to offer.
When it comes to Art you’ll have to READ my Artist Statement HERE
When it comes to Yoga I have expanded and brought awareness to a variety of kinds of Yoga. For clarity purposes when I say “kinds” I am not speaking about the various so described “styles” of yoga. I am specifically referring to schools of philosophy as well as that which is named in the Bhagavad Gita. I am of course not even close to anything like an expert, nor do I want to be, what I am meaning is I explored, a lot. While I love my physical practice, contemplations and breath works I am spending a fair amount of time studying Indian Philosophy via the study of Sanskrit.
This has assisted me in broadening my understanding of my own practice but also in how it has been expounded to me. The methodology and inner workings of our body and energetic system are fascinating to me.
I love you, go live your life
FAERN
