autumn

In the yoga sutras, Patanjali talks about effortless effort - "Perfection in an asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached." - Light on the Yoga Sutras, BKS Iyengar Perfection is connected to the metal element present at the end of this season - the need to be perfect, valuing oneself, the need to have shiny material possessions and conversely, the exact opposite - not valuing oneself or not believing oneself worthy of respect. It is something well worth examining as we close out this year. 

Most of you know, if you have been subscribed to the iHanuman Newsletter for some time, that we pay a lot of attention to the changes and transitions of the natural world. Every year, we are prompted by traditional healing philosophy to reinvigorate pranayama practice in the fall. The fall is the season of letting go and releasing as well as the organs of the Lungs and Large Intestines.

Unfortunately, the attacks on the city of Paris bring to bear an opportunity to reflect upon the emotion of the fall season, Grief. Although often uncomfortable, and in this case, completely unimaginable, Grief is another part of the cycle of the seasons of life. It represents Loss; big or small, loss of things, property, people, even death, are an inevitable part of life. In the Fall Season, we are asked to put down all of our projects and to-do lists and focus on closing out the year. We give thanks for what we did well and let go of the things that did not go well or that we hope to do better in the new year. Fall is the season to Let Go and surrender.

Hanging in my office's south-facing window is a prism, a flat plate of glass about four inches in diameter. For half the year, in the spring and summer, the Sun is high in the sky and the angle of its rays too steep to filter through the glass and into my room. Effectively out of sight then, as the old adage has it, it's also usually out of mind, though occasionally, when nudged by a breeze blowing through the open window, it taps against the pane ... clack, clack, clack ... and reminds me it's still hanging around. This morning though when I opened the slatted blinds that cover the window, a hint of rainbow sprawled across my floor, not nearly the full spectrum, just a long uneven smudge of red.

We Are Under the Hood of the NEW iHanuman Website. We have a little more work to do, but we have DEFINITELY been Out and About recording new Yoga Media! This summer we Dreamed and Grew. Now it's Time to Reap, Harvest and Let Go! The Autumn season reminds us that we CANNOT do EVERYTHING and We CAN let go of our own timeline to open to something BIGGER. We need a little more time to unveil our NEW site, but we hope you will PRACTICE PATIENCE with us.