Manna Lu

Manna Lu

Most Difficult Aspect of My Practice are Back bends.

Ironically it is the continuation from my final sequence in my 200 hr TT training.  How a strong back holds an open and generous heart.   People have an open heart with vulnerability and I am guilty of that.  I was not connected to the world, didn’t not open to vulnerability.  I was not dropping into the broadness of my back.  Here is my story of how the universe taught me about back bends.

I went into a Tibetan store to purchase a Tibetan singing bowl.  The owner of the store, gave me an offering of “The Tibetan book of the dead.”  This was the third book I received from other Tibetans I met in life.  It is not an easy book to read. I flipped through the pages, it open to a page and two verse caught my eyes.  The most supreme of all foot prints are that of an elephant and the most supreme of all meditation is that at the moment of death.  I meditated on it, in response.  The most supreme of all foot prints is that of the elephant, the grass will grow, the wind will blow and the foot prints fades away.   The most supreme of all meditations is that at the moment of death.  It is the sound of ah, ah, ah, at that moment I saw the faces of my children at that moment I knew, I didn’t not touch the surfaces of impermanence, at the moment of death I had my ego, my attachments and my circle.        

The following weekend, I met with my Native American teacher and the lesson for that day was the warrior spirit.  The warrior spirit live with death by their side.  It’s not a solemn feeling where, I am going to die, instead, it is living at the moment, knowing that death is upon them at any time.  (I guess I didn’t complete my lesson from the Tibetan, it continued with my Native American teacher,) after the lesson, we went out to meditate, I sat under a willow tree.  It was a hot day in August, a welcoming breeze came, carried fragrance of jasmine flowers.  I opened my eyes and followed the fragrance and I found flowers behind the shed.  I saw the jasmine flowers, I touched the jasmine flowers, I smell the jasmine flowers, and I closed my eyes, it’s all but a memory. 

I walk with death by my side, to live, to connect, to pause, to received and be vulnerable.

I open the door to my apartment and was greeted by my children like I always do.  Each one gave me a hug, as I held each of them I whisper, a little tighter, I wanted to cherish this moment of if was my last.  The next day, my five year old asked “mommy a little tighter.” At that moment there was a pause, we held space, bare witness, with my legs, arms, back, broad shoulders, and my head, to support our heart center, for the next cycle of breathe, we closed our eyes it’s all but a memory.

Back bends are living in the moment, to connect.  to pause, to savor, to truly see the world, be vulnerable, to be balance, return to center, to truly live.

Sequence: Peak pose Virabhadrasana 1 

• Tadasana
• Urbhva hastasana with slight back bend
• Uttanasana
• Lunge
• Virabhadrasana 1 (right)
• Adho mukha svanasana
• Lunge
• Virabhadrasana 1 (left)
• Adho mukha svanasana
• Uttanasana
• Urbhva hastasana
• Tadasana                                                     

Tried  keeping  8 to 10 poses.

Manna Lu