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January 8, 2016

How To Retract Our Energy Tentacles: 2 Quick Yogic Practices.

JULIE/Flickr

Moving from Our Inner World Rather Than Our Outer One.

In life, sometimes things get sticky.

In fact, sometimes in life we are the ones who get sticky. We develop long-reaching energy tentacles that come out of our bodies and attach onto whatever is nearest to us that will give us a reaction. Like little suction cups on the end of a tree frog’s fingers, our energy attaches onto the stuff around us, and we don’t seem to know how to make it let go.

It’s not entirely our fault, nor is it always a bad thing when it happens. Attachment to things and people can be helpful, like the energy cord between a mother and her baby.

But, when we find ourselves feeling, A) frantic, B) unsteady, C) out of control or D) exhausted, we may need to learn how to pull our energy back to the place where it originally came from.

With cell phones, WiFi and all sorts of instant communication systems attached to us 24 hours a day, we have begun to expect to be regulated by the outer world, whereas looking to ourselves, the stars and the moon used to be enough.

We have forgotten that at our core we all have our own built-in re-balancing system. In yoga, we call this system the energetic body, and it is part of the larger subtle body system.

When our main focus becomes searching for outer confirmation, we leave our vital energy cords attached to the things around us, rather then to our own centre, and we then begin losing strands of our precious power.

People who have experienced this know how uncomfortable this external validation scramble can be.

No one likes an energy octopus crawling up their arm, or the feeling of being one either!

Lucky for us, we are flexible beings that can build new practices to re-route our energetics and return to moving from our own inner sanctum—rather than the outer one. We just need to learn a few new skills to do it.

Here are two quick yogic practices I have tweaked, which can be used anywhere and anytime to retrieve our energy from where it doesn’t belong and bring it back into our bodies. Because seriously, sometimes returning to our energetic selves has to be done on the fly.

1) Finding our breath. (This exercise just takes a moment and can be done standing or seated.)

Note: Repeating, “I call my energy home,” while doing this practice can be helpful to increase its effectiveness.

Still your body and feel your feet on the ground below you. Notice the weight of your body on your feet or, if you are seated, notice the weight of your body resting against your chair.

Focus your attention on your breathing. Notice the quality of your breath. Is it shallow, deep, shaky or smooth? Is the air hot or cold that is coming into your nostrils? Feel the rise and fall of your chest as the air comes in and then is released by your lungs. Notice if there is any sound that your breathing makes.

Try to pay close attention to the breath for five inhalations and five exhalations.

Ask yourself now, What is it I am feeling? Has the breath changed?

When we get too speedy and outer-focused, we forget that our breath is one of the most important anchors for coming back to our own inner world. In yoga, the breath is the connection to the subtle energetic body.

2) Finding our Body Boundary. (This exercise just takes a moment and can be done either seated or standing.)

Note: Repeating, “I call my energy home,” while doing this practice can be helpful to increase its effectiveness.

Still your body and feel your feet on the ground below you. Notice the weight of your body on them or if you are seated, notice the weight of your body resting on your chair.

Focus your attention on any place where you have bare skin (perhaps your hands or your face). Notice if you can feel the temperature of the room on this skin. Is it hot or cold? Can you feel air moving across it or the sun shining on it? Can you notice if your skin feels moist or dry? Can you feel the places where your clothes touch your skin?

Start from the top of your head and scan down to the bottom of your feet, noticing what is touching your skin on each area of your body. What touches the skin of your cheek, lip, neck, chest, belly, hips, thighs, knees, shins, ankles and soles of your feet? If this practice feels good, try doing it up your back side.

Remind yourself that inside of this boundary of the skin is a safe energetic place to be, with a solid layer around it. We were each born living inside our very own energetic house. Remembering that our skin serves as a boundary for it helps us to recognize when we are living outside of it.

To move more authentically in the world, it is important to recognize the place that we are moving from and the places we have unknowingly become suctioned to. Moving from our own inner world increases our chances of fulfilling our unique desires and purpose while maintaining the energy we need to do it.

When we learn to stay out of other people’s energy business by coming back into our bodies, life becomes more tidy, easeful and light. I promise.

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Relephant Read:

Energy Fitness: 3 Easy Energy Workouts.

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Author: Sarah Norrad

Editor: Toby Israel

Image: JULIE/Flickr

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