Sarah helping us untangle…
This blog has been written by Sarah Steinke. Sarah teaches amazing Spira Power and Yin classes at Spira Power Yoga. She is also a published author of poetry, a mother of three and an amazing friend and confidant… I am blessed by her presence in my life. – Dora
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A few years back I had the pleasure of taking my children and one of their friend salmon fishing at the pier across from our place. At the time, the kids were 2, 5, 7 & 7, and needed much help keeping their lines untangled, not only from other lines but also from each other. My anxiety was high, fearing the worst, hoping for the best. It was really only my love for my kids that led me to take on such an adventure–they had wanted to go salmon fishing for so long, and so we went. I must have looked like a mad woman to the other fisher folk there.
And despite my best efforts at deep breath, the energy was frenetic.
Those beautiful children cast and tangled faster than I could breathe and untangle (let me just add, to my credit, I didn’t give my 2-year-old a hook, but somehow she managed to find one!). At one point I began using my teeth to gnaw through a tangle between the two 7-year-olds. This is when a fisherwoman asked if I needed help. Of course I didn’t, couldn’t she see I had sharp teeth? “Please, can I help?” she asked. What on earth she’d be able to do with these lines was beyond me. So I handed the mess to her, and stood back, fully prepared to jump in.
But I didn’t need to. As she worked the lines between her fingers, I became mesmerized, the kids stopped running in circles to watch too. Teeth were out of the question. Slowly, smoothly, effortlessly she untangled knot by knot and handed the rods back to me. And with the untangling of the lines, so untangled the frenetic knots inside me. For a moment, peace, breath, gratitude.
This was a few years back, but this image continues to be my teacher. I don’t have to take my teeth to everything. And I’ve found in my yoga practice that yin is a similar teacher. The long muscular cast of the yang practice is energizing and challenging and blissful. And the balance, especially when the lines get tangled, is yin. The slow, almost still time warp of using not muscle and teeth but breath and gravity is challenging to give yourself over to. But the results are in the untangling.
The benefits of yin go beyond that fabulous night’s sleep. Yin creates spaciousness in the physical and subtle body, yin can help untangle and release stress. Much like with the fisherwoman, for a moment, peace, breath and gratitude will enter.
Sarah teaches yin classes at Spira Power Yoga every Tuesday night at 7:30. Come and join her, give yourself a chance to untangle.
To deepen your understanding of yin practices look into these future opportunities to learn: (All of our teacher trainings are structured to be beneficial and enjoyable for those who wish not to teach. We believe yoga is a path of lifelong learning. Teacher training is a term that we use because we are Yoga Alliance and Washington State Certified Teaching Vocational School and that is the language that they determined for these classes. But that does not mean that these trainings are restricted for teachers only. We welcome everyone who is curious, who enjoys learning, who wishes to understand yoga in a deeper level)