A Life Long Internal Fire – A possible answer?
Have you ever had that feeling where you get very hot inside, like someone has lit a bonfire in your tummy? Then your heart starts pounding and you feel an abundance of energy that either makes you want to scream, hit, kick anything within your reach or run as hard and as far as you possibly can? I have. Growing up from as young as I can remember I felt like this a lot.. It was my Temper!
I began Karate at a young age where I learned to control my temper, almost suppress it and as I matured my outlay was always hard, fast physical exercise, the sort of exercise that took my heart rate to its limit, where I would be so physically exhausted my fire would burn out.
Over the years as I grew up and had children my temper suppressed, although I would often feel that fire inside I very rarely felt like I was going to bubble over, I simply had to control it as due to a knee injury I was no longer able to use hard physical exercise.
5 Months ago I decided to start yoga, immediately felt inspired and each class I attended I began to feel an internal calmness wash over me. I decided to explore this further and joined the 50-hour self-practice course that has now progressed into the 200 TTC.
We began learning different breathing techniques, one of which was Anuloma Viloma or Alternate Nostril breathing and Nadi Shoddhana, which is alternate nostril breathing with retention. During this practice a familiar feeling started to come to light. I got very hot inside, someone was lighting a fire in my tummy, my heart began to pound, I wanted to open my eyes and scream and run as fast as I possibly could. It was back, my internal fire. My Temper!
Surely this couldn’t be right, how can breathing cause this feeling? So I try again the next day. The same feeling! I decided I needed to share my feelings and was instructed to take it easy, to continue practicing the breathing as it is a fundamental part of yoga, but as soon as I feel the fire alight then to stop, go back to my normal breathing.
I’m now practicing a little every day, my duration is getting longer, and the fire inside is taking longer to ignite.
Is this it? Will this be the answer to putting out my life long internal fire?
Is yoga really the spirit and practice of moving into stillness?
200 hr TTC September
