These are some pictures from the Alhambra in Granada. When I go to the acupuncturist I try to imagine the places where she puts the needles as holes from which toxins and negative energy can easily leave my body, and everything that I need from the Universe can just as easily enter.
This weekend I practiced yoga with a teacher who stresses what she calls a "closed system." The idea is to lock in the prana - or energy - and build a fire within the body. The yoga term is "Mula banda" or "root lock." (Here's a link if you're interested in reading more.)
So - open and closed. Both are great, and necessary. I really enjoyed the very audible ujjayi breathing, and picturing the force of all of that energy building within my body and doing...well, whatever yoga energy is meant to do. Good things, I'm sure. And I also love lying on that table every week, giving permission to all that is not needed to leave my body, and to all that is needed to enter.
Thanks to Lisa Schneier for looking at this poem and saying, "Gina! Your blog!"
ReplyDeleteOpen Closed Open, Yehuda Amichai
Open closed open. Before we are born, everything is open
in the universe without us. For as long as we live, everything is closed
within us. And when we die, everything is open again.
Open closed open. That’s all we are.
I immediately thought of the Amichai poem, too! I love your blog. Thank you for putting your words out there.
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