Supporting the Body

Using props is something quite relevant and primordial for humans in my experience. I can imagine the evolution and spread of Yoga having quite the momentum and acceleration by the use of props. Some say their relevance is in making poses comfortable, easy and accessible, and yes, that is very important and a good point, specially for older population and those tight, injured and anxious or depressed.

I am also interested in the relation of props with the body, as much as I am interested in the relation of the body with gravity, with the Earth and with others. Our first relation with space and the "other" comes when in the utero, when we develop the spine, and extremities. We first have a lot of space, and gravity is not an issue at all, since we are floating in the sac, but then we grow larger, our limbs, skin, organs and bones develop in great detail and size and we start building a relation with our mothers womb, being slowly touched, moved and snuggled by it, and gradually squished and expelled from it.

We are relational, from our beginning, and our relation is what shape us. Our first and most primal relations are sensate, which means we feel them, and it is in the womb that we build this relations, with our own development from a cell to a human, and at the same time with the womb that supports and nurtures us, with the cavity and walls of it, with the placenta, the cord, and with the vaginal passage (if we experience a vaginal birth), or with the doctor's hands and tools (if we experience a C-section) what fist and foremost shapes our body relation with the outside.

It makes so much sense that we later on develop unique relations with the Earth, gravity, people and objects that support us. We humans have spent a lot of our evolution creating places and objects that support our body, to the point that now our bodies spend the majority of time being held by chairs, beds, sofas, benches, etc. This is not to criticize those supportive objects which are wonderful to make our life easier and comfortable. My interest is in the relation we have with them, which emulates our sensate relation with others. When this primal relation is left unattended and unexplored, patterns of behavior are what run us, unconsciously. We might be unaware of our tightness, our clenches, our defensiveness, our rigidity, our incapacity to bond or our lack of boundaries and our ungroundedness.

If we are aware of (and remember) our unique relation with the outside, be a human, and animal, a plant, the ground, a chair, a bed, a blanket, anything or anyone that gives us pressure, or extends us, that wraps or contains us, that supports parts of our body, etc, we build sensitivity, awareness and a sense of welcoming and safety in those parts of our body and of our being that not only loss sensitivity, but also because of that, got fragmented from the totality of our body structure, and at the same time fragmented from our wholeness.

Fortunately we can slowly start paying attention to our body patterns, the unconscious holding, tightening, clenching, our weak places, the pull and the attraction, the habits that have governed our life, our fragmented state. The Body is amazing at remembering whatever has been disembodied or excluded. I assume that one of our main journeys in life is to bring all the pieces back together into wholeness, into relation, and into harmony. An easy and great place to start this journey is our body and its relation with the outside world, as much as its inner relating with all it's parts: with skin, fascia, muscles, organs and bones. However we have been relating as a whole body (or not) has a lot to say about our relation with others. Yoga means Yug, connection, to join. To connect, to relate is to live.