Making Love with Life

Making Love with Life is a phrase from one of my dear teachers, Mark Whitwell. He talks about our yoga practice, that being one that unites the breath ad body, as a direct participation in Life itself, the co-creative divine source from which we (and all things in existence!) come. As I type this, I know how abstract this idea seems, the wonderful thing is, all we need to do to illuminate this abstract idea is simply Do Our Yoga. Then the idea becomes really clear, simple and true.

(I’ve included a 30 minute Yoga practice based on these principles at the end of this post for You)

Over the last couple of years I’ve learned a lot about slowing down and just how slow I need to go to stay connected to this experience of ‘making love with life” For that experience of pure pleasure to bleed beyond the mat into the way I cook, sip, shower, work, play, I need to go much slower (and do way less) than I ever have before.

Learn More about the Path to Motherhood

When I was pregnant with my second baby I got the memo to slow down, slow down and slow down even more. (uncomfortably slow) Through that first year postpartum the snail remained my spirit animal and I started to really receive the benefits of rest. Now, as the pace of Life is increasing again it’s my practice to stay in touch, intimate, with this new found resource of Pleasure that (can) sustain us as women.

And this relates to something else I want to talk about: the way sex changes after having babies. More on that later.

But first, it seems February has become the cultural month of Love and love related content. What I like about this is, Valentine’s Day has its roots in the Vedas. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Kamasutra. More than a book of sex positions, this is poetry and prose on the nature of love and living Well. God of desire and devotion, Kamadeva who is depicted with a bow made of sugarcane and arrows made of flowers, reminds us of the power Love has to drive spiritual growth and personal transformation.

His bow represents sweetness and his arrows the regenerative quality of nature. The story goes that only Kamadeva, divine Love himself, could shake Shiva out of deepest meditation. When the earthly world needed Lord Shiva’s presence, Kamadeva sacrificed himself, shot his arrow into Shiva’s third eye to awaken his attention before turning into ash. Love and compassion are our paths for experiencing the divine and the earthly realms as one.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day …

Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening by Danial Odier

Enlightened Sex & Dear Lover: A Woman's Guide to Men, Sex, and Love's Deepest Bliss by David Deida (get your man The Way of the Superior Man)

Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India by Roberto Calasso

The Radiance Sutras 112 Gateways to the Yoga of Wonder and Delight by Lorin Roche

It’s a simple hatha practice integrating the principles of uniting breath & body. Practice it with your partner this week!