Did you know that at least 50-60% of your body (assuming you’re an adult reading this!) is made up of fluids?  I’m guessing that you’re probably aware of your muscles and bones, but how in touch do you feel with the watery environment they live in?

If you’ve ever felt that you’re working too hard or over efforting in your muscles, dropping down into your inner ocean can nourish your yoga practice with a sense of ease, playfulness and spontaneity.

Support From Your Fluid Body

But how do you create a sense of fluidity in your body?  Whilst there can be many pathways in, here are some of my favourites:  I love to soften and hydrate my muscles (I’ll show you how you can do this in my upcoming workshop); another way is to stimulate the synovial fluid within the joint spaces which will help to keep your joints nicely lubricated – movements that involve jiggling, gliding, gentle shaking help this, not to mention a good belly laugh!  Credit to my teacher Donna Farhi for introducing me to these practices.

As you discover the support of the fluids, you’ll find that the breath can more easily flow through your body and transitioning from one pose to another becomes smooth.  And in time, you may also find yourself going with the flow more and finding a sense of ease with the inevitable changes and transitions that occur throughout your life.

To inspire you, take a look at this short video of my teacher Donna Farhi as she goes through a sun salutation cycle.  Can you get a sense of the flow and breath moving seamlessly through her body?

I share this not as “this is how you ought to do your practice” but more in the spirit of how your fluid body can open up new possibilities and choices for you.

Music As A Way To Connect

Music can be a very powerful way to connect into the various fluids within your body.  For example, put on different types of music and see how your body wants to respond (again, credit to Donna Farhi).  Try something slow and undulating and then something with a more definite beat and rhythm and sense and feel the difference as you practise, perhaps some simple sun salutations.

And I’d love to know how this experience was for you or if you’ve found your own favourite ways to feel juicy and fluid.  Please feel free to share in the comments below.

If you would like to explore how you can embody the fluids to create a sense of ease and grace in your practice (not to mention how to stay juicy!), then you are warmly invited to join myself and my colleague Aileen Orr at our workshop on The Fluid Body on Sunday 8th March 2015.

PS…

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