Each time we gather at IN TOUCH MEN, more and more clarity emerges as to what it is we do. Last night at our Back to Basics workshop, four beautiful men worked to help me expand on an idea I have been contemplating of SPARSH YOGA, aka TOUCH UNION.
SPARSH in Sanscrit translates as TOUCH.
I see bodywork, specifically in its giving and receiving nature, as a unique body awareness practice. Traditional Ashtanga Yoga, where one's relationship is to oneself, is expanded through the addition of another human being. Touch asks us to find awareness in ourselves and our partner; this is where the magic happens.
We often hear that true YOGA happens when you take what you have learned off your mat and into the world. -Take downward dog into work, my breath of fire, my focus; how is this possible?
At IN TOUCH MEN, as we gather together to develop our body awareness, we naturally engage SPARSH YOGA. In action created through our investigation of touch, the element of the other is introduced, and our body awareness practice blends with our partners. In so doing, we uncover a doorway into what is so necessary these days, a union outside of ourselves and into the space of the other. At IN TOUCH MEN, we bridge the gap between me and we.
In Kundalini Yoga, something we also explore at IN TOUCH MEN ( every Sunday at 4:00), we use mantra or chanting to explore the power of Nada Yoga. Nada=sound. Sometimes with mantra, words like truth, universal energy, and even GOD come up. One Kundalini Mantra is God-and-me-me-and-God-are-one. That G-word can send people running. Myself included! However, a wise Yogi I study breaks that word down beautifully.
He looks at it like this, G= the generating power of the Universe, O= the organizing power of the Universe, and D= the destructive power of the Universe. Second, by another second, Yin and Yang, all are in the constant dance of balance.
Sound/Mantra is simply the auditory aspect and passageway of and into our powerful vibrating Universe. As vibrating beings, we exist within our vibration, our collective human vibration, and our Universe's vibration. The holy trinity, one may call it. Why I bring this up is because of the very mantra God-and-me-me-and-God-are-one. I feel this holds within it the traditional relationship of a self-practice -me in relation to my truth-. SPARSH YOGA takes us a step further by becoming the bride from the personal to our collective. Through our hands-on work with our fellow men, we pass through a doorway as we blend and flow with each other. This doorway leads us to a path we then walk together. This path may be the path the YOGI's have always quested for, the way that leads to the Universal vibration, AKA-truth.
At IN TOUCH MEN, as we work together, blending our personal quest with that of our brothers, we come together in BLISS,
I hope you will consider joining us as soon as you have completed your vaccinations.
Sat Nam
Brian
Photo: Brian Riley 2014, ONE PAST SELF available for purchase in different sizes.
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