Find your anchor

An exploration of Self in relationship to earth and gravity. By anchoring into a solid foundation, we can find the support to meet changing circumstances with greater ease.

From the support of the earth our gardens grow.
We are also like plants and flowers,
growing and blossoming in a supportive environment.

In order to rise up and shine with must first anchor down and be nourished. Like a plant in a garden, our roots must firmly anchor into nutrient rich earth, creating a foundation of support. Support underlies all movement. Support, in its many forms, gives us the foundation to move in many ways; to explore, create and achieve in the outer world. Support also allows us to transform inwardly. There are many forms of outer and inner support but the ultimate support is Divine Consciousness or your sense of Self, or Shiva nature. The notion of Consciousness may feel like an allusive concept, a mental construct, or just a nice idea, until we have the experience of it. 

The experience of Divine Consciousness can be found through various spiritual practices, like asana and meditative movement.

We can use our own awareness to inquire into ourselves and explore how to feel the support of earth, gravity and Self.  Throughout our lives we have different relationships with different people, places and things. In some of these relationships support is offered to us and in some of these relationships we offer support. In healthy relationships we support one another. A reciprocal relationship builds shakti. It orientates us to the Self and offers us the support from which we can grow and experience ourselves and life at their best.

When times are tough or we are going through difficult situations, or even just unfamiliar circumstances, having solid anchors as support can ease the discomfort or uncertainty we may feel. Sometimes the mind and emotions can feel like they have a life of their own. They spin out of control, leading us into places we may not want to go, traveling deep into the past or far into the future. When this is happening, it can be useful to get out of the mind and into the body.  In connecting physically to stability, in the present moment, we can connect with who we are and our growing sense of Self.

…if we ride our normal sense of self inward,
we arrive at our identity with the supreme person; Shiva.
Swami Shankarananda, Self-inquiry. p. 71

Our body and sensations can be used as a ride to take us to our Self, our Shiva nature, our experience of Consciousness. In finding support through the body, we can bring ourselves into the present moment and enter into relationship with earth and gravity.

As long as we walk on this planet we are in relationship to earth and the force gravity. Rather than resisting it, let us be in harmonious relationship with it. Some people feel that gravity brings them down or makes them heavy.  Yet, if we didn’t have gravity, we would drift aimlessly into space. We would be ungrounded and anchorless. When we are in good relationship with gravity, we find support and harmony with our environment. We feel grounded.

Our feet connect us with the earth. They tell us where we are, and how to align the rest of our body, in order to move through our environment or stand our ground. The earth also offers us buoyancy, an ability ride the rebound from gravity into powerful and easeful movement.

The earth is our source of physical support and nourishment. We are in constant relationship with it. We travel on it, through it and in the space around it. We orientate to its gravitational field. Our bodies touch the earth as we walk, dance, sit, work and play.  We construct buildings on the earth and from the materials the earth provides. We create pathways, fill spaces and open spaces on the earth.  From the earth our gardens grow, and our food is cultivated.

Just as we draw water from a well, we should draw breath. When we breathe out, it should be like letting down the bucket into the well. When we breathe out, it is the carbon (the impurities of the body); when we breathe in, it is the breath of Omkar (primordial creator of the universe). Breath of Omkar is the manas (mind).
Bhagavan Nityananda, Chidakash Gita

Like dropping a bucket into a well we can connect with the earth and be nourished. Just as we breath, the earth breathes.  

Now, let us align with Consciousness through the earth.

Exploration: Align with gravity

When we slow down and take the time to turn inside and to sense ourselves to feel into the present moment, we connect with the vibration of cosmic Consciousness. Because Consciousness has taken the form of our body and our material world we can use these to align ourselves with its power and creativity. The earth grounds us and from her support we can grow. When we stand with our feet firmly on the ground, our head reaches easily towards the heavens. Our central axis aligns and our sushumna flows with shakti.

Part One

Breath into harmony with the earth.

• Stand comfortably, with eyes shut.

• Wiggle and squirm your body, releasing excess tension.

• Walk your heels up and down, on the spot, awakening your feet.

• Spread your feet, wiggle your toes.

• Feel the entire surface area of the soles of your feet.

• Feel the areas of your feet that connect with the surface you are standing on.

• Feel the surface you are standing on meet your feet.

• Feel the relationship between you and earth.

• Feel the movement of your breath in your body.

• Exhale, your breath all the way down to the soles of your feet.

• Inhale, draw the breath up from the soles of your feet.

• Exhale, feel the downward flow into the earth.

• Inhale, feel the upward flow from the earth.

• Repeat.

Part Two

Yield into the support of earth and gravity.
Harness the energy from gravity’s rebound to align, rise up and shine with shakti.

• Exhale, droop your body, release into the earth.

• Let everything sink, subtly downwards: soften your knees, release your tail, round your back, sag your shoulders, lower your head.

• Breathe, yield into the support of the earth.

• Pause, wait, listen, feel.

  What do you notice? In yourself? In earth? In the relationship between you and earth?

• Place your awareness in the relationship between feet and earth.

• Press down through your feet.

• Feel the current of the earth gradually rising up, drifting through your body, bringing your body into alignment: knees, tail, spine, head.

• Pause, wait, listen, feel.

  What do you notice? In yourself? In earth? In the relationship between you and earth? In the relationship between earth and heaven?

• Repeat a few times: yielding into earth, pressing down, growing and reaching upwards.

• Explore linking the movement with your breath:
  inhaling down, exhaling up, or, inhaling up, exhaling down.

• Pause, wait, listen, feel.
  What do you notice? In yourself? In earth? In the relationship between you and earth? In the relationship between earth and heaven?

  • What do you feel in your outer/physical alignment?

  • What do you feel in your inner/subtle alignment?

  • How does your inner alignment support your outer alignment?

  • How does your outer alignment support your inner alignment?

Part Three

Explore and experiment with the information that you have awakened in your  body.

• Increase the size of your movement in any way you like:
  eg. walk, dance, leap, take various asanas: standing forward bend, downface dog, and so on.

• Decrease the size of your movement in any way you like:
  eg, lie down, sit, rest in child’s pose and so on.

Be nourished and supported in your relationship with earth and gravity.