If Let it Go yoga were a smoothie recipe, I personally would mix three main ingredients in it: recharge (for my daily life), refuge (from my daily life)  and discipline (to show up for my daily life and for my yoga practice) with a sprinkling of some unexpected surprises and oodles of gratitude (for all the things mentioned in the brackets just above and then some). I also, most likely, would have given you a very different smoothie recipe twenty, fifteen, ten, five years ago, and even half a year ago. And the sprinklings would have been different, too. We change, times change, our practice changes, and I wish and hope that we each find a way to keep going, finding new ways to incorporate that valuable practice into our ever changing lives. Especially now. I guess, one could say, the practice grows and changes with us, or is it the other way round?

Let It Go Yoga allows one to get rid of the odd and old emotional baggage without too much pain and suffering, thus staying sane; it also helps one stay fit and flexible. Well, yes, I know it, however, as much as I have tried, for quite a few years now, I still find myself not feeling that featherweight ease I am supposed to have in each one of the poses. Some feel good, and wow, even great! And some feel tough, and wow, wow, wow…really tough! This is the part where the above mentioned surprise sprinkling on my yoga smoothie happens. Here are two unlikely and wonderful “helper-practices” that have recently allowed me to feel more at ease in my current yoga practice: I have experimented with the Box (aka Square) breathing, taught to Navy SEALs to calm their nerves in stressful situations, and I also have changed the soundscape of my practice, listening to the creations of Yogetsu Akasaka. I have found his magic working particularly well at the time of the day when the darkness of the evening swallows the last remnants of the light.

Yogetsu Akasaka is a beatboxing Japanese Zen Buddhist monk. The 37-year-old went viral in May this year, after posting his “Heart Sutra Live Looping Remix,” a video that’s “…relaxing like ASMR, and engrossing like a DJ set. With the loop machine, he layers sounds and chants all coming from one instrument — his voice. The video now has over 100,000 views, with comments from people around the world”, says Miran Miyano for Vice. As I listen to the Heart Sutra again and again, it gives the green light to my thoughts to flow through me with a respectable ease (…must be that ASMR, mentioned previously! And yes, I looked it up – it stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response – a tingling sensation that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine), and it results in encouragement to my own heart to stay open and vulnerable, AND not hurt, even when old hurts, memories and thoughts curse through my brain and (subsequently) body. It is magical, really, as after listening to the Heart Sutra while doing my little yoga practice, I feel all of the following: Awake. Present. Grounded. Open.

As I mentioned I also have started using the Box breathing to support me in  getting through the spots that create tension in my emotional and physical body. I like it now! No, no, nooo, not the spots, the breathing! And it streamlines and guides my energy through those places and spaces that used to be a challenge. The Square or Box breathing goes like this (the simple explanation is meant for those of us, who are not Navy SEALs): inhale on the count of four, then hold your breath on the count of four, then exhale on four, and then be still for four counts. And then inhale again… Somehow having a shape of a square/a box in my mind’s eye helps immensely, and my breath becomes even and content, almost happy. It is now also my preferred breathing practice when going to sleep at night and during the day when wanting to not be reactive to daily stresses and challenging situations.

Recharge, refuge and discipline. And a sprinkling of gratitude. Wow, I did it! Another Let It Go Yoga practice… And I box breathed and I listened to beatboxing by Yogetsu Akasaka, and it worked! For me. Thank you, Let It Go Yoga. Thank you, Navy SEALs. And thank you, Monk Yogetsu Akasaka. Namaste.

 

Written by Indra Strong, Certified Let It Go Yoga teacher. Photo Credit: Indra Strong.

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