As educators and sacred embodiment coaches our minds are alway pondering how to teach safe and relaxing pranayama (breathwork), speak to the power of our creative womb, and of course, creatively incorporate the best postures for labor prep. Never did we think or prepare ourselves to write about the bleeding heart of our nation as innocent lives are lost, again! We feel we have no words to describe the pain and shock that so many parents, siblings, lovers, and friends are feeling right now. Our hearts feel as if they have shattered into a million sharp and tiny pieces, each edged with anger, sadness, and so much grief. The recent events, which serve to punctuate the collective turmoil of our country, has sparked outrage like never before and that somehow feels all the same.
In these times of immense despair and fragmented emotions, we return to the yogic teachings that invite us inwards, into our hearts and bodies. Where we are urged to join ourselves and each other on our mats to collectively move through the transformative aspect of being human - of being a mother. It is the Mother’s nurturance, protection, and guidance that we all yearn for, need, at this hour. Wherever you are in your journey of motherhood, the Mother archetype is alive and calling to us. She is asking us to remember the power of her presence, her courage, her heroic strength, her fierce love that dissolves pain and cuts through fear. This week we will channel the power and healing energy of Ma Kali, the Hindu Goddess of life and death. Ma Kali, the Cosmic Mother invites us to give voice to the parts of ourselves that are full of fire and anger so that we may transmute them into our fullest expression of love.
Ma Kali, representing Shakti or divine feminine energy, is often pictured standing on the body of her consort, Hindu God Shiva, holding the severed head of a slayed demon. She appears full of rage but is known to hold the duality of fear and freedom, often noted as the most loving “Mother of the Universe.”
Our favorite pose to invoke this transformative Mother energy is Utkkata Konasana or Goddess Pose (Figure 1). Try the pose and hold for up to 5 breaths, inhaling the mantra “I am fierce” exhaling the mantra “I am free.”
If you practice with Ash, the name MaYoga may now holds a deeper meaning for you. Each MaYoga class is an invitation to awaken and ignite the Divine Mother energy that is vital and crucial for moving forward in life. Step into your own feminine resilience, the innermost version of motherhood. Kali energy moves us through birth and delivers life itself in return. The more we can cultivate the energy of Kali, the more strength and power we have to define love as an everyday action.
Join Ash and the MaYoga community as we explore this posture of the divine mother/ Kali within all of us.
Figure 1 - Goddess Pose, Pinterest
Goddess MaKali - Pinterest