FEBRUARY 16, 2026 - Leading a Charmed Life
In this week’s class, we synthesized the contemplative aspects of our practice over the last four weeks. We’d talked about energy as creative force, our ability to cultivate our inner creativity, receive the creativity of the world around us, and then engage in a relationship - which is always some kind of gamble - of mutual nourishment. But even though relationships of this nature are a dice throw, it’s not like we’re not allowed to try to finagle the best possible outcome. So how do we do this?
A myth from the Hindu tradition might have some insight. Shakti, the supreme Goddess, and Shiva, the supreme God - were engaged in their favorite pastime: gambling with dice. It was Shiva’s final throw and as the Supreme Yogin with his razor-sharp concentration, he was likely to win. But just as he cast the dice, Shakti gave him a “look",” a look that contained all her beauty, sexuality, and bliss. Shiva was dazzled, thrown off his game. He blew it, distracted by her lasya, her charm. She won the game.
Shakti used her gifts, the things that truly make her her, and used them to influence the outcome of this mutually agreed upon game between her and her husband. She didn’t want to lose and she found a way to win. This isn’t necessarily a metaphor for power and dominance. Rather, it tells us that we’re free to have desires and to pursue them, and we can use our charms to do so. How we do so in a responsible way, well that’s for next week. For the rest of our class, we did this:
Thank you to
Centering with ujjayi breath lying on our sides over a bolster to better sense the side ribs and mobilize the spaces between them.
Warm-ups including: cat and cow, downward dog (focusing on hand seal - hasta bandha), cobra in three progressions (fingertips long, fingertips closer in, palms flat), forward fold.
Low lunging series. First, an upright torso over vertical front shin and back thigh bone, connecting the spine and the pelvis through muscle engagement in the belly. Additionally, we reviewed foot seal, (pada bandha)We twisted upright, then twisted again with one hand on a block, twisting to the opposite side, rotating the spine to circle the arm.
Side angle pose (parsvakonasana) from a wide-legged stance. We held this pose while rotating through the spine and circling the arm. From there, we went into a partner side angle pose facing our partner, joining our top arm palms and pushing into each other to engage side body.
Afterwards, we explored forward fold (uttanasana) in depth: foot seal, healthy ways to roll through the spine, and ways to stretch the backs our legs keeping the strain out of low back. Then, we went into pyramid pose (parsvottanasana), taking a lunging stance with both knees extended (more or less) and then folding and rising over the legs with blocks or hand to thigh.
Then came the final pose: twisted head to knee pose (parivrtta janu sirsasana). We did this with a strap and a partner. We extended one leg, looped a strap around it, and then placed our inside arm on the inside of the leg before grabbing the strap to pull up and rotate, stretching the top rib. Our partner applied gentle downward pressure to the opposite thigh/hip.
Finally, we closed with partner breathing and savasana. Thank you to all who came, and see you all soon!
Saprema, Joey