rasa

though i'm usually writing about my life, or at least my emotional life, i've gotten away from writing about yoga on my blog and in order to deepen my own practice i think i should start exploring the philosophy of yoga and what it means in my life.

i took a class at flow yoga on thursday night that focused on spring and how spring brings more "rasa" into our life. rasa is literally translated as "juice, essence, taste, plasma, or transformational state" and is pretty much the nourishing juice or energy that fills us with life. so when spring rolls in we feel a burst of energy - the days are longer (but this time in a good way..), we feel lighter and more playful and even more hopeful. to increase the rasa within us, we need an energetic yoga practice. in my class our teacher had us incorporate 108 chaturangas into our vinyasas that were full of energizing poses - triangle, chair, twists.

"in order for the rasa state to arise, we must first become aware of our bhava, or 'true feeling state,' which is thought of as the soil of rasa," writes shiva rea. "without being true to our feeling state, it's easy to feel as if we're going through the motions of life. a lack of connection is all too common in this fast-paced world; we sometimes find ourselves eating without tasting our food, listening without being truly present, and doing yoga without experiencing the feelings that arise in us."

and even if you aren't doing yoga there are plenty of other ways to tap into this energy - taking a logn walk to work, going for a run, eating lots of fruits and vegetables.

"existence without juice is dry and tasteless. rasa is life's fluid reality, life's juice, in every sense of the word."
robert svoboda