expression

I had a gloriously social and cosy weekend so I'm writing the theme of the week on a Monday morning, tucked up in bed with my lovely family - joy! And maybe that's the vibe that's influenced my pick for the theme this week, which is:

expression

when I sat down to research what's going on this week, it was so nice to see celebrations and expressions of joy on the calendar around the world - Rio Carnival, Goa Carnival, Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival - these events all hold creativity, detail, beautiful expressionism. Snow sculputres, intricate costumes, dancing, music, food... so much intricacy and beauty and sensation (maybe sensory overload for little old me, let's be honest).

this honestly isn't the vibe I've been feeling in the past weeks, and maybe that's why it struck me as lovely (we like novelty don't we?) - it's been very grey and drizzly in London and even usual moments of joy (swimming, yoga, going out for coffee, dog walks) have been a bit washed out. still good! but not quite as good.

and then came sunday - a swim! back with the lads, the four of us back together and in the water after a bit of a january hiatus (broken arm, back to school, moving house all amongst our many reasons for not being at the pool, but honestly I think all that was underscored by the greyness, it's just not appealing is it). THE SUN CAME OUT. the pool ripples had those magical sparkles of light dancing across them, and the water was just warm enough (8 degrees!) to properly get your face in and have a good swim. I managed a dive (glorious!) and we all said it was the first swim of the winter season that's felt like exercise again, rather than just a pootle.

nothing wrong with a pootle, but I think a bit more energy, engagement and active movement is what I'm feeling called to at the moment. something a little bit louder, a bit more decisive. a bit more expressive!

yoga and expression

I had a lovely chat with the wonderful Sarah at flow rogue the other day and we ended up comparing yoga and dance as movement practices. Both practices I very much enjoy, both very different (completely different aims I think, although when I think about it more I get more confused in the nuance), but both definitely with some similarities.

let's start with dance - to me, it's a creative expression first and foremost really - it's (at least partly) about what it looks like - what it communicates visually to an audience. inherently performative, because it's often performed. it can also be deeply personal - dancing alone in the kitchen, a first dance at a wedding, children learning dances together for hilarity and conencting with each other. a shared playground activity and way of joining in together, belonging (the macarena and ketchup song were taught to me by our neighbour's daughter at my desperate request because friends at school all knew these dances but I, with no older siblings, had never come across them. I still remember how happy and proud I was the first time I could join in).

so dance is a movement practice of expression - often alongside music, costume, storytelling, theatre. all also expressive practices. a soup of expressive ingredients! expression soup?

so what does yoga have to say about expression? well, let's start with what yoga is at its root. some of the oldest mentions of yoga come from the Rg Veda and Atharva Veda, including this gem:

“Seers of the vast illumined seer, the yogic yoking of the mind they foster” - Rg Veda 5.81.1

the term, "yoking" is one of the translations of the word yoga: from the Sanskrit root ‘yuj’ meaning to ‘yoke’, ‘join’ or ‘harness’. I’ve also heard this defined as the potentially more modern-friendly “to connect”. but what are we trying to connect to?

the answer (for me at least!) is in the above Rg Veda quote - the 'vast illumined seer'. yoga (along with many many other philosophies and belief systems) says that we all have an unchanging awareness at our core. a pure consiousness, the soul, the Atman, divine spark, energy, life force, observer, witness...

when you meditate you observe the changing sensations, thoughts and emotions passing across your experience like clouds across a sky. but in this metaphor, who is the person stood watching?

depending on what you believe, your soul is one unique expression of this pure consciousness - the awareness that underlies each and every one of our experiences. we are each a different expression of the same stuff. and we each have a unique sort of fingerprint on the world - our best way of being, totally individual to us. our soul purpose - the unique gift that we can offer to the world if we tune in to our authentic self. this is supported by lots of yogic principles, but one example that's sticking with me is satya (truthfulness) - expression of authentic truth, from a place of deep instinctive honesty.

I have absolutely no idea if a soul purpose is a "real" thing, but it feels like a nice idea to work with anyway! how can we more expansively express our authentic selves? what are the unique gifts we can offer to the world through our expression? what does authentic expression look like in our lives right now?