Awareness (with the big "A" and little "a")

by Erin Ipjian

The term “awareness” gets used a lot in yoga and meditation circles. When I hear the term, I have a few layers of meaning in mind.
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For one, there’s “Awareness” (with a capital A) This - to me - is the big picture of why we practice. Over time, the aim is to increase our familiarity with Spacious Awareness, so we spend less time being tugged around by the quirkiness of the mind. Sounds great, but how exactly do we drop into Spacious Awareness?
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Here’s where yoga (thankfully) gets quite practical. We’re fortunate to have amazing practices like asana that we’re advised to practice diligently over time, without attachment. And here’s where awareness with the little “a” comes in. Yoga asana is the perfect place to develop body awareness. By that I mean both awareness of your internal state (with inquiries like “how has my breath shifted?”) and awareness of how your body is moving in space. Yoga provides ample opportunities to explore both.
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This week, we’re building our awareness of the spine in particular. We’re exploring variations of spinal waves throughout our transitions, noticing the areas that feel easy to control and those that don’t. I’d love for you to join. We’ll aim to find a little more awareness together, both the big “A” and little “a” version. :)