Sensual Shamanic Yoga - It was an intimate gathering this past Monday evening, the final class in Sensual Shamanic Yoga. Five of us gathered and held space for ourselves and the practice. I had been getting the hit for a week now to move deeper into animal spirit energy with the class. We began our class by heightening our five senses and moving deeper into scent, taste, skin sensation, sight without eyes and acute awareness to the subtle frequencies of sound.
We then journeyed to receive the animal that was most useful to merge with during the first part of class. Mother Spider appeared to me. We bowed and acknowledged each other and then merged into each other making the connection, linking our nervous systems. My legs spun inwards and energy surged up through my eight limbs and deep into the spindles of my belly. My hands were delicate but strong and four additional etheric legs spun out of my body giving me supreme balance held up by an octahedron of energy and many eyes. The animal body is confident and aware of the totality of her presence at all times. She never ceases to exist in any part of herself. There is never a removed sense of consciousness from any part of the body, she and the body have become one. Nature demands this unwavering presence for survival – to merge fully with the body, to align the body / spirit relationship with nature because the elements and the food chain demand existing in a constant state of oneness. The animal kingdom exists in constant meditation, fully in every present moment and hyper-aware of everything around it. It does not forget how to find food or build nests or migrate to warmer climates. It remembers; it opens to its truest state of being.
Shamanic Yoga Journey:
Getting in touch with the animal body ~
Tools, eye coverings, yoga mat, blanket
Lie down on your yoga mat in an area of your home you consider sacred and that allows for movement. Feel your body against the Earth. Begin to deepen your breath and settle into the body. Once you have settled begin to visualize yourself in place you feel to be sacred. This could be the room your are currently in, a place from your childhood, a place in nature or a magical place you’ve just created. Feel yourself in this new surrounding. Once you feel in a calm space in your new sacred surrounding, put out a call to your animal spirit, holding the intention that the animal spirit most appropriate for this embodiment journey will appear to you. Be open to receive whatever animal spirit shows up without judgment. Acknowledge each other with a bow and ask permission to merge with your animal spirit. When permission is granted feel yourself inside its body, its legs, its eyes, its heartbeat, its energy. Once the connection has been made, slowly begin to rise up off your reclining positioning on your yoga mat and move to your hands and knees maintaining the connection with you animal spirit. Begin to allow the freedom of movement and the merging of your energy inside the animal blueprint of energy to influence how you move.
If you have a yoga practice try two rounds of Sun Salutes in the energy of this animal to give your movement structure and be open to how the animal’s energy influences your yoga routine. After the Sun Salutes return to a gentle movement meditation on your mat in your animal body. Allow any new or intuited yoga poses of this animal spirit to rise up form within you and express themselves through movement and sound on your mat. When that feels complete, come to a resting pose and release the connection with your animal spirit. Ask your animal spirit if it has anymore information that is useful to share with you at this time. Acknowledge your animal spirit with a bow or other gesture of gratitude and journey back fully to your human body. Move through two rounds of Sun Salutes on your mat intending your human body and human energy. Close your practice with Savasana or seated meditation.
