Spiritual Foreplay?

What is the value of a gentle introduction? Why not just go full wheel, full tilt, blast off orgasm, run 10 miles, 30 day detox right from the jump?

And who am I to recommend easing in, me who can’t resist baring my soul before breakfast, who, as a friend once wrote “will give you everything, and ask for everything in return”?

As usual, the body knows the answer. Like aggressive clitoral stimulation without fingertips having traced your thighs, like Dancer before Bridge pose, like 180bpm’s before a proper bass drop, the body numbs, the eyebrows pinch, the spine complains. Where is my warm up the muscles ask? Who murdered seduction? Give me a shoulder rub before so much pounding. 

Now we can be warmed up by more than friction. Sometimes chemistry and anticipation are plenty of a prologue to fling us straight on to our backs; snapshot of giddy legs in the air. In asana the temperature of a room can turn snappy ligaments in to lithe ropes. There are many sensory planes to which our instruments respond. 

The argument then is for increased depth through the release of urgency. Or enjoying a delicious appetizer across the table from said tension. Deeper presence, being curious and relaxed, causes us to respond in real time to the exploration at hand. We reframe the activity from terms of progression and linear escalation and enter the realm of the cyclical. 

Pulsation (Spanda), figure eights (Infinity), bliss (Ananda), and fusion (God consciousness) are the languages of practice. Like a well worn map, the cliche “it’s about the journey not the destination” points us towards a reeducation of our circuitry. Stop focusing on achieving orgasm and you might just land the Big Bang in the end. 

Can you release expectation in asana in favor of vivid curiosity? A place of mind in which ever more subtle aspects of sensation and bodily conversation bubble to the surface of your attention. Be a bit of a tease. Back off the full stretch, assure your glutes that you’ll be back soon with more, turn the burner up slowly, and settle in to time, your most abundant resource, where the eventuality of fireworks sets you completely at ease. 

Stay Encouraged,
Hilary Elizabeth