Acclimating to an indoor life is a winter happening, even in this un-extreme climate. This transformation is a balance: the dark to the light, the yin to the yang, the rest to the action. And it is this stopping that is crucial to a yogic life. It begins as a forced exile – outdoor activity curtailed – reading more, meditating more, sleeping more, thinking more, obsessing more. I have heard many teachers tout the importance of savasana (resting pose) as the most influential posture. This resting will balance the movement, they say, and assist in the slow opening of the heart.
I have only to look over at the amaryllis that Aunt Madeline sent me for Christmas, as she does every year. Yesterday the flower bloomed, after a strict dormancy, in the dead of January – a preview of my heart.
