June 2019: On The Sun

June is the month of the summer solstice, an auspicious time of change and the beginning of my favourite season. I thrive with light and warmth; I am very grateful to the sun. The sun has wonderful archetypal references in yoga. After all, we tend to start our practice saluting it, but its connections go much, much deeper.

I struggle with the Marichyasana poses. I am still somewhere in that journey between frustration and letting go, binding, twisting, coming forward with the mind and the body. And breathing, of course. These poses have it all – they are called gateways in the primary series. Sometimes, though, I have wondered why they are there, and what do they do. 

After my weekend with James Boag exploring the sun, I think the Marichyasanas might be related to it. Usually they are linked to Marichy, Brahma’s son and a sage, but James told us the story of Maricha, and I understood something of that pose. Maricha is a rakshasa, a demon, in the Hindu epic the Ramayana. He terrorised yogis, ate human flesh and drank the blood of those he killed. He encountered Rama, Vishnu’s avatar, and underestimated him, thinking he was just a boy, so he terrorised him in a sacred site and was thrown to the other side of the world by one of Rama’s single arrows. The second time he met Rama, he sought revenge and attacked him again. Rama shot three arrows, killing the demons that were with Maricha, but sparing him. This prompted Maricha to transform into a saintly person, the one we might embody in the asanas.

Marichy means ray of light, but also mirage. It is the ability the sun has of allowing us to see round the corner, where there might be darkness, where we might not even know what there is (like when we rotate that arm to bind or twist to look round …) It is also the ability to discriminate, to see what is real and what is not. This skill — and many others the sun embodies — is within each of us. The only thing we need to do is to keep practicing.

Laura x
https://www.lauragonzalez.co.uk/yoga/

What I have been listening to
I have become very fond of the twelve mantras to the sun, which James does at the end of the video (the other invocations he sings are also to the sun). Here are the twelve archetypes and what they mean, so you can chant with him:

Om Mitraya Namaha
salutations to the friend of all

Om Ravaye Namaha
salutations to the shining one

Om Suryaya Namaha
salutations to the one who induces activity

Om Bhanave Namaha
salutations to the one who illumines

Om Khagaya Namaha
salutations to the one who moves in the sky

Om Pushne Namaha
salutations to the giver of strength and nourishment

Om Hiranya Garbhaya Namaha
salutations to the golden cosmic self

Om Marichaye Namaha 
salutations to the bringer of the dawn

Om Adityaya Namaha
salutations to the son of Aditi, the cosmic mother

Om Savitre Namaha
salutations to the stimulating power of the sun

Om Arkaya Namaha
salutations to the one who is fit to be praised

Om Bhaskaraya Namaha 
salutations to the one who leads to enlightenment

What I have been reading

The sun produces heat and us ashtangis like our practice hot. But what does the heat do and how hot should we go? Gregor Maehle discusses the link between heat, agni, enlightenment and environment in this very interesting article:

There’s more to raising agni than turning on the heater. If simply working out in the heat raised agni, every construction or landscaping worker wielding a jackhammer in the Australian mid-day heat would be as purified as a mountain spring! But that’s not how it works. I’ve done plenty of jackhammering in the mid-day heat and it didn’t purify me. Take my word for it!

My class timetable for Autumn 2019 is below. I have also included the full studio schedule, with Kate, Sue, Catherine, Ali and Rosina’s classes. So much to chose from!

Also in September, Sue Crow and I will be running our retreat in Barmolloch. There are only 3 places left so if you want to come book now! All the details are below. I cannot wait to be in this magical place.

Thank you for what has been a wonderful year of learning for me. You have been a big part of it.