Circles draw me in. My mind can rest inside them, quietly. Triangles, on the other hand, seem to suggest a grounded physical body. Swishing my arms and legs in a Snow Angel I feel one with the cool snow! The sculpture I use for my profile picture appears quiet and steady, in great part due to her conical shape. The wind can swirl around her while she rests, alert and unmoving.
The lotus pose, if you can open your hips and knot your legs, is probably the most stable, still posture I know. Even when I sit in a more simple, cross-legged Sukhasana, I am aware of my wide base and triangular shape, narrowing up towards my head. I often choose to meditate in this posture, taking time to check my alignment before I focus on my breath, a mantra, or other focus. This simple awareness of posture can well be a meditation in and of itself. Try it.
Notice your own triangular shape. Feel the weight on your sitz bones and your buttocks. Let your knees and legs be heavy and rest them on a blanket or a pillow if they do not reach the floor. Sitting up on a cushion can also help you lower your knees. Can you balance your shoulders over your hips? Allow your chin to circle and explore space until your neck feels comfortable and your head balances on your spine. Simply sit and feel your triangular form.
After a few moments of sitting quietly, do you feel your breath filling your triangular posture? Play with it. Imagine you are breathing in from your wide legs towards the crown of your head. Exhale back down. When you sit cross-legged, there may be a triangle of space inside your legs. Visualize the triangle of your nose and imagine air spiraling up from the spaces between your legs up into your two nostrils, and up into the “inner eye” in your scull. The spirals of breath form conical shapes, moving up through the nostrils, to a point at the apex of your body triangle. Simply sit and be aware of the breath spiraling up and down for a few more moments. How do you experience the prana of your breath? Are you more awake and grounded?
As a warm-up, try the Snow Angel variation of the Bridge. Begin lying on your back with your knees bent, simply circling your arms up overhead and then along the floor carving a snow angel in the imaginary snow. After a few repetitions, reverse. Then press your feet and shoulders down into the snow to lift your hips and back as your raise your arms over head, lowering them as your inscribe the circles. Note the conical shapes I carved in the snow in my Vermont Snow Angel. As yet another variation, try lifting one arm at a time along with your hips as you breathe in. Glue the arm to the floor (snow) overhead while exhaling and lower your hips, inhale and raise them again. On the following exhalation lower both the arm and the hips. Repeat with each arm individually several times and then lift both arms together. Remind yourself to play. The purpose of warm-ups is to explore and enjoy gentle, repetitive movements as we loosen our joints and muscles and relax our nervous systems.
Each posture in our practice is an opportunity to meditate on our alignment and this focus keeps us in the present moment. Our initial standing asanas will serve as warm-ups for the Triangle. Standing hand to foot balances will invite us to create triangles with our arms, legs, and torsos. Finally, don’t worry if your supine twists don’t form perfect triangles. As I commented earlier, perfect triangles are rare in nature.
As you lie in Sivansana, allow your arms and legs to splay outwards and be aware of the spaces and energy between your limbs and head. Feel your energy merge with the triangular spaces…. Trace the outline of your body in your mind’s eye and notice where your body ends and the space around you begins. This sounds easy, but without checking with our eyes or our our touch, it is difficult to sense our boundaries. Relax!
