Everything is connected

A friend emailed this to me. Although this is Guriji, I do not give adjustments like this to my students. So rest easy!

Trying to get back to blogging more regularly. This past week found me sleeping on average about 5 hours a night, leaving me pretty discombobulated when my mind and body decided to start giving out around Tuesday night. I slept about 7 hours last night, which felt wonderful and will try to keep recuperating this week. The combination of sleep deprivation and cold, rainy weather is causing me to crave junk foods which is making my physical condition even worse, but I'm seriously going to spend this weekend nursing myself back to health.

Been realizing how everything really is connected. I have relatively tight hamstrings (and consequently, I'm currently nursing a right hamstring injury from pushing myself too hard), a relatively weak core, and left shoulder soreness. Interestingly enough, my friend and yoga teacher Selena pointed out to me that she thinks all three seemingly unrelated weaknesses may stem from my hyperflexible back. Because my back is so flexible, I have a harder time engaging my core, even in easy standing postures, resulting in a weak core. The flexy back also affects how I stand, causing me to stick my tailbone up a little more than most people which causes my legs to tilt forward a little more, shortening my hamstrings and tightening them. The weak core also makes it more difficult for me to engage during chatarangas, causing me to carry more weight than I should in my shoulders. Because my left shoulder is weaker (I had sprained it last summer), it cannot carry the weight as effectively, hence the soreness.

Our body is so interconnected in a way that my back can affect my left shoulder and right hamstring!

Similarly, our mental, physical, and emotional states are so interconnected. How healthy my body is, the nutrition it receives, if it is getting exercise, can all impact my mood as well as my ability to think clearly. The goal of yoga is union, and we seek to be able to view the person holistically as well as heal ourselves holistically.

It really brings new insight into Matthew 12:12-26. The body IS a unit and every part is dependent on the other part working. Disunity in the body is detrimental to the person as a whole, and we as believers are all parts of the body of Christ. If the back is not working properly, the effects can impair even the shoulder and hamstring. Thus it is so important to seek unity. It is important to identity what parts of the body are weak and to take care in nursing it back to health. It is also important for the body to safely learn to compensate for injury in a way that doesn't harm the other parts of the body. How amazing is it that this analogy is demonstrated so clearly in our physical bodies!