The Inner Body
Eckhart Tolle, in his book - A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose - speaks of feeling the inner body as a way of connecting to the present moment.
You can experience the inner body simply by focusing on your hand - and feeling the energy there - your hand perhaps tingling with warmth or some other sensation.
Later, you can focus your awareness on other parts of your body where the experience of aliveness might be more subtle. In some meditation traditions, one learns to literally "hear" the blood rushing through the veins, or the cerebral spinal fluid coursing through the spine.
Focusing on the breath however, is a simpler way to bring oneself back to the present moment - it is more accessible and does not require years of practice. This simple technique can quickly bring us into stillness - and automatically connect us to the present moment.
Tolle's discussion on the inner body made me think of the First Universal Principle of Alignment in Anusara Yoga - "Opening to grace" - which implies opening to the Universal - or to something bigger than who we are - and ultimately to the Divine.
Often, teachers will give their students instructions as:
"Inner body bright!" or,
"Side body long!"
The idea is that we connect to the inner body and open - creating space - and a bigger container so that we may receive more deeply and be filled to overflowing.
All of the actions in Anusara Yoga are initiated in the back body, and it was interesting for me to note the connection between what Eckhart Tolle was saying in his book, and a basic principle of alignment in the style of yoga that I teach.
Connecting with the inner body allows us to experience life on a deeper level and allows to come to catch a glimpse of who we really are at our essence - a magnificent reflection of the Divine - whether we are engaging in a meditative or asana practice.
You can experience the inner body simply by focusing on your hand - and feeling the energy there - your hand perhaps tingling with warmth or some other sensation.
Later, you can focus your awareness on other parts of your body where the experience of aliveness might be more subtle. In some meditation traditions, one learns to literally "hear" the blood rushing through the veins, or the cerebral spinal fluid coursing through the spine.
Focusing on the breath however, is a simpler way to bring oneself back to the present moment - it is more accessible and does not require years of practice. This simple technique can quickly bring us into stillness - and automatically connect us to the present moment.
Tolle's discussion on the inner body made me think of the First Universal Principle of Alignment in Anusara Yoga - "Opening to grace" - which implies opening to the Universal - or to something bigger than who we are - and ultimately to the Divine.
Often, teachers will give their students instructions as:
"Inner body bright!" or,
"Side body long!"
The idea is that we connect to the inner body and open - creating space - and a bigger container so that we may receive more deeply and be filled to overflowing.
All of the actions in Anusara Yoga are initiated in the back body, and it was interesting for me to note the connection between what Eckhart Tolle was saying in his book, and a basic principle of alignment in the style of yoga that I teach.
Connecting with the inner body allows us to experience life on a deeper level and allows to come to catch a glimpse of who we really are at our essence - a magnificent reflection of the Divine - whether we are engaging in a meditative or asana practice.
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