A quick reminder that it's the last week to sign up for my upcoming yoga series —
Illuminate Your Path!
I'm getting very excited to share it so we can transition with tender awareness into the months ahead. Plus — lots of bonus goodies on topics like the Chakras and subtle energy, Ayurveda and integrating a home yoga practice into your routine. It's a wonderful group forming and we kick off Monday, April 26 — just let me know if you have questions!
As I was putting together the series materials, I got to thinking a bit more on Ayurveda, and the way it teaches us about the various phases of life.
In Sanskrit the word Ayurveda means, "the science of life" though generally, this healing practice is set in the context of things like lifestyle, routines, diet, etc. Personally, I relate to it as a system of energies, which apply throughout the day, throughout the year seasonally, and as I'll discuss more today: throughout one's life.
In Ayurveda, practitioners refer to three Doshas (which are basically different types of energy) of Kapha, Pitta and Vata.
Kapha corresponds to sustaining, grounding and earth, and relates to the first phase of our lives—birth to approximately puberty.
Pitta corresponds to challenge, transformation, rigor and water/fire, and corresponds to the "reproductive" years of our life—when we build careers, families and what not.
Vata corresponds to expansion, transcendence and air/ether—and relates to the final, wisest stretch of life.
I have never seen it described in this way, but it seems that the Kapha dosha rules our inner child, while the Vata dosha rules our inner sage.
So then Pitta is left — the middle dosha — which is all about change, conflict and transformation.
One might decide that therefore, Pitta rules our inner worker, or inner warrior, or even inner wanderer (don't ask me why this is alliterative, I don't make the rules!!)
However, I have to say that I feel like Pitta rules my inner weirdo.
So, what's the inner weirdo?
If I'm perpetually 5 years old as inner child, and 75 as inner sage, then my inner weirdo is 15: a constant teenager, living on the precipice of new realities every day, a bit rebellious. I find that the inner weirdo is what allows us to shed parts of ourself to grow anew. It's what allows us to try things, and fail at them. It's what allows us to recoil at injustices and challenge them. It's the constant tension of fire versus water. Both can facilitate transformation, but they work in different ways.
My inner weirdo is anti-establishment. She doesn't want to be put into a box, told what to do, or otherwise aligned to Society's timeline. She is resistant, and sometimes she isn't even sure what she is resisting or why exactly or if the resistance serves her, but it feels necessary, and even life-affirming.
Above all, my inner weirdo is in a constant struggle between being understood and being
seen. To be seen in all the nuance that cannot be fully understood, even by herself, would require my inner weirdo to admit that even she does not fully understand herself.
My inner weirdo is a walking contradiction, where all the lives that cannot be lived in one life are just duking it out.
If I had to pick a Tarot card to describe the essence of the inner weirdo, it would be the Five of Wands.