Padahastasana

Padahastasana

There is the world of human beings... and then there is the world of angels. Look closely and you will see them beneath your feet, in the grass, reflected in the pond at the edge of which you stand.

Fairy in a Flower, Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana, Compass Pose

At the bottom of the drawing is written the Sanskrit Buddhish Mantra:"Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu, Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, Om"

Which translates to: “May ALL beings everywhere be happy and free, and through my thoughts, my words, and my actions, may I in some way contribute to that well-being and happiness.Peace, Peace, Peace.”

I interpret this mantra to mean all beings, including spiritual and elemental beings such as fairies, gnomes as well as animals, plants, trees and human beings.

Vrksasana by Moonlight

This is one of my favorite drawings for the depiction of movement it expresses through the moonbeams illuminating the girl doing Vrksasana Tree Pose with one leg resting upon a tree trunk, as if she is an extension of the tree herself.  Indeed, in yoga, we are supposed to root down strongly with our feet feeling like a tree’s roots penetrating deep into the earth below before we can branch our arms out like the upper branches of a tree towards the sun or moons’ light.
.

Understanding Urdhva Dhanurasana

In this drawing, I am expressing another one of my yoga teacher’s interpretations of this throat chakra opening yoga pose.  Urdhva Dhanurasana opens up the throat chakra and blasts open the heart chakra which you can feel if you come fully into this pose.  This pose serves as a link, or bridge between the rational, masculine understanding of the world, and the emotional, feminine understanding of the world.  It is not healthy psychologically to rely on one’s feelings alone and to experience the world entirely through one’s heart.  This leads to much heartache and pain. Nor is it healthy to experience the world thinking entirely with the brain, a rational instrument that often gives faulty readings and gets in the way of our true experience of life.  Instead, we must learn how to straddle these two realms of understanding and maintain a balance between them.

Savasana on Turtleback

This drawing, also done with colored pencil on paper, is my expression and interpretation of what divine relaxation looks and feels like, and thus I drew a girl resting upon a turtle in Savasana Corpse Pose, the last and final resting pose in yogic practice.  It came to me one day as my yoga teacher was explaining to our class that the turtle is the symbol of Enlightment in Buddhist philosophy, and truly, I could think of nothing more relaxing than lying upon a gigantic turtles’ back floating in the middle of the ocean.

Here is an excerpt I found explaining the significance of turtles in different cultures:

“Throughout the ages humans have bestowed turtles with special meaning. Ancient myths from different cultures describe the world as resting on the turtle’s back. Among Far Eastern cultures it was believed that the turtle’s back symbolized Heaven and that its underside represented Earth. For them the turtle signified the possibility of uniting Heaven and Earth within one’s own life.

Some cultures today still regard the turtle as a symbol of the primal mother and believe that it is connected to the lunar cycle. Others associate the turtle with longevity and wisdom. Incredibly, sea turtles have existed on earth longer than any other vertebrate animal — they were here when dinosaurs evolved and became extinct, and they survived the Ice Age.

The turtle has qualities that are congruent with the teachings and values of the Life Balance Institute. The turtle naturally withdraws and goes within when in turmoil. It does not need to learn the importance of this focusing inward, it naturally knows.

The turtle’s whole life is one of steadfastness, effort, and patience. It lives a slow and steady life of “non-doing.” There is a saying, “Home is where the heart is” — the turtle is always at home within itself.” (http://www.lifebalanceinstitute.com/institute/about-turtle)

Through the practice of yoga, I find that like the turtle, I come back to ‘heart center’, and so I wished to express this sentiment through a deeply imaginative interpretation of Savasana Corpse Pose.

Biodynamic Awareness

You have noticed that everything an 

Indian does is in a circle,

and that is because the Power of the

World always works in circles,

and everything tries to be round....

The sky is round, and I have heard 

that the earth is round like a 

ball, and so are all the stars. The wind,

in its greatest power, whirls.

Birds make their nests in circles,

for theirs is the same religion as ours....

Even the seasons form a great circle

in their changing, and always come

back again to where they were.

The life of a man is a circle from

childhood to childhood,

and so it is in everything where 

Power moves.

-Black Elk

Oglala Sioux