Some of you may remember that I had a Yoga teacher (Master Kapil)
before who watched and guided my practice. Master Kapil has taught me
many things - some of them were (sadly but not surprisingly) forgotten, but some,
I'm happy to say, have stayed with me since.
For example, the importance of feeling grounded.
Mountain pose (Tadasana) is probably the most basic of all Yoga
poses: it is simply "standing there". It is simple, but also profound.
In the Mountain pose, you should stand still, balanced, straight and
strong (hence the name Mountain). Your body should be rooted to the
ground, weight evenly distributed on both feet, supporting the
upper body to lengthen, to grow tall. This feeling of
lengthening can only occur when you feel grounded, as it makes you feel
safe and strong and gives you energy and support. It is only when you feel grounded that you can reach
high, said Master Kapil.
And grounded is how I feel since I moved to Singapore a month ago.
After nomading from city to city and moving from one apartment to
another for the past five years, I finally feel that I'm "home". Now
this is for my brother (who likes to tease me for having converted into
a Singaporean): home is not Singapore per se. Home is precisely the feeling of groundedness. Finally
when I see SB I don't need to count down the number of days 'til I have
to get on the plane again. (On the contrary, I see him EVERY DAY now!
:O Now THAT takes some getting used to.) It feels so good to have someone to coming to, after s good or bad day.
And I'm happy. Like Master Kapil said, when you feel grounded, you
feel like you can do anything and achieve any goal. I'm so grateful
that now, after a good or bad day, I have a place to come home to, with
arms that always welcome me with a nice po po. I feel grounded. I feel strong.
