In each yoga practice, we tap into the original energy that we are made from. This primal energy is as old as the big bang and as brilliant as the light of the stars. The original energy we inherit is sacred, auspicious and all-pervading. It is derived from the wind, the sun and the sky. The spark of original energy has been handed down to us through the generations. It is the vital life force that animates every nerve pulsation, every breath, every beat of the heart. We tap the original energy by opening up our limbs, stretching our fascia and bringing our breath deep inside. Mostly, our practice requires sweeping the dust off the mirror of our heart and mind and letting the original energy shine from within.
For many reasons we get cut off from the potency we inherit. Caught up in our busy brain, we lose connection to source. Distracted, overwhelmed and anxious, we eat too much and spend too much time scrolling on our screens. Some adhere to strict beliefs or fall down rabbit holes of opinion. Perhaps an old trauma from this lifetime– or lifetimes ago– stifles the stream of the vital pulse.
In practice, let the radiance of the original energy take residence inside of you. Come to know its presence and sense its potency. While we can never grab it by the tail, we can feel its presence in a shimmer of sensation, a wisp of a breath, or a tremor through our spine. The Chinese Zen master Hongzhi wrote, “when the stains from old habits are exhausted, the original light appears, blazing through your skull, not admitting any other matters”. The original potency that dwells in you is the same that dwells in me. When we collectively yoke to the original energy, we realize the one mind, the one heart that sustains us all. You need not name it or guide it or try to possess it. Just know it as the luminous source to which we all belong.
