Parivrtta Parsvakonasana & Agni- Detox

Tis the season for abundance.  Perhaps social or work engagements fill up your holiday schedule, many gifts get exchanged, or you feel the excess of delicious food being prepared.  For many of us, there is no lack.

This Thanksgiving season, allow yoga to help you stay grounded, strong, and light on your feet, not to mention, grateful.

Within each of us lives a digestive fire, “agni,” ( Sanskrit).  Agni gives us increased power to process food and emotional experiences.  Without enough agni, or internal fire, one may have difficulty dealing with food or emotions.

When agni is stimulated through yoga, there can be vital  physical health, emotional well being, and deep spiritual awareness.

In deep twists, like Parivrtta Parsvakonasana, toxins and metabolic by-products are physically squeezed from the abdominal organs.  As you release the twist, freshly oxygenated blood surges back into the inner organs and the oxygen helps rebuild connective tissue.  Twists physically and psychologically rejuvenate.

In the Ayurvedic tradition, agni is transformation.  Metaphorically speaking, agni reveals our truth and purpose, agni burns away what is untrue.

If any elements of your life feel toxic, notice if the element itself is toxic or if it is your relationship to it.  To the best of your ability, let go of toxic thoughts and emotions as you notice them arise.  Practice radical self acceptance.  Invite a sense of openness and goodness into your postures and into your life one breath at a time.

As you continue to stoke your internal furnace through yoga, you ignite your purpose and allow your inner light to radiate outward.  Remember your innate ability to generate heat from within and initiate positive change.

May our gratitude spread forth into the world this Thanksgiving as we remember neighbors who are less fortunate.

Namaste!