Yoga Workshop, Espern, Hamar, December 2009 - Part Four

Yoga

We are one. The author of New Age Thinking wrote that our urge to be ‘one’ was a regressive state of consciousness that harkened back to our inability to let go of the mother.

Let me remind you of what ‘mother’ we can not let go of.  The Great Earth Mother. 

Mother Earth

For those of you that doubt the word ‘mother’ should be given to earth, and see this as some form of romantic or even pagan labelling, let us think of what the earth means to us.

It protects us, it shelters us, it gives us food, it sustains us, because of its existence, we are here. It gives us air to breath, food to eat and a place to live. Traditionally, the role of the care givers has been given to women. To bring the earth into our hearts and minds, and to bring full appreciation of its value to us, we give her the name ‘Mother Earth.’

And what do we do to her, in exchange? We take from her without thought, we poison her veins, we turn our back on her when she struggles to cope with our abuse, we dig into her skin and take out the parts we want, we ignore her importance in celebrations and harden our hearts towards giving thanks, and naively we think we are independent from her, just like most ignorant teenagers feel towards their parents.

But it’s a process. We are growing with awareness. We understand that we can not continue to act so foolishly, and all the children of the world need to come together to help give back to the earth what we have taken. To claim responsibility for our actions. And this is an act of unity. It is yoga off the mat.  We are coming together, slowly, in appreciation and awareness for our great Mother.

We can never let go of Mother Earth. Instead, we need to stand and plant our feet in Mountain Pose, and claim our stance and our belonging right here, where we are, on the earth. 

Mountain Pose

The feet firmly grounded into the earth. During the yoga workshop, we talked about two energies. One of them was the gravitational pull of Mother Earth. When we are in asana practice, we must always connect to the earth and stabilize. We need to ground ourselves and claim our position. We can not build our pose upon hesitant footing.

You can do that on a physical level, but can you reach into your being and send your heart into the ground and claim your space. Do you belong, where you are? Do you belong, right here? Have you taken responsibility and a shared partnership for your relationship to our shared Mother? In your heart? In your mind? In your soul?

You are my brother and you are my sister. We share this Earth Mother. From my heart, to yours, I ask you to open and explore your relationship with our Mother, and to claim the relationship as valid and one of the most important of our lives.  Everything we do, is reliant upon her. Our very being. What does that mean? What is our responsibility? How does this concern you?

Unity with Mother Earth

We can not let go of the Mother Earth, of creation, of life itself.  Its impossible. We are a part of life, of creation – no matter what we think. We were born of the earth, we live from the earth and we will return to the earth. 


One of the most fundamental moments of bringing ourselves into alignment with what yoga means, is becoming aware of our relationship to the earth and to all life forms who share the air, and shelter, and clothing and food that our Mother gives us. 


Part Three of the Workshop
Part Five of the Workshop