The Pause Between Winds: Honoring Prana, Shadow & Shine
What happens when you pause? What happens when you connect more deeply?
“The Love we show saves the Love we hide, the way a sprig in sun feeds its unseen root. Even though I believe in living in the open, parts of me hide. I can’t help it. But what I can help is which parts of me – the open or the hidden – run my life…” - Mark Nepo
Hello Monday, hello June.
A loving welcome to you as you meet your week. However the day has unfolded- whether still carrying the brightness of joy or the weight of shadows- let this moment be a pause of heart. A breath of presence.
Centering Practice: The Pause
Take a moment now to simply arrive. Breathe in fully. Pause. Retain the breath.
Then gently let it go with an audible exhale.
Repeat two or three more times in your own rhythm. If it feels right, shake out the limbs, soften your shoulders, or move the neck gently.
Now breathe naturally, five to ten rounds.
Ask yourself: How is my energy right now? What’s the state of my prana- the life force within me?
An answer might emerge. Or feeling tone elusive. Embody and let yourself live in the question. In a world full of stimulus and doing, the invitation is simple: Return. Connect. Listen.
Even amidst chaos, these quiet check-ins can re-attune us to what’s true in the moment.
“Even the clearest water seems opaque at great depth.
Each of us is like a great, untamed sea, obedient to deeper currents...
Yet that base of spirit remains unaffected by the storms that churn up the surface.” - Mark Nepo
As the sun reaches higher in the sky, we move into Gemini season—ruled by Mercury, guiding both our communication and nervous system. This season brings aliveness and energy: movement, curiosity, expression. Opportunities to both nourish and live into the heart, the lungs, the arms & hands for connection & expression. Yet it’s also easy to get swept up in the doing, to over-doing.
In yogic philosophy, we explore the gunas- sattva (that which is clear), rajas (that which is active), and tamas (that which is stable). In the brightness of this rajasic season, the medicine is often balance—moments of stillness, pause, and introspection to restore the harmony of inner winds, or create space to uncover parts left unseen.
We might start with asana and breathwork to invigorate or diffuse energy, but the deeper gift of yoga is what follows: listening. Deep listening. Nonjudgmental witnessing. Connecting to the truth beneath the surface.
Whatever season of life you're in- growth, grief, joy, overwhelm, or the liminal- remember this: You are not alone. There is both shadow and shine in wholehearted living. Yoga helps us befriend them both, explore it all, expand, nourish and renew.
“Whatever arises—love that.” —Matt Kahn
Reflections from the Week
This past week for me was full: days at the farm, the market, a heart engaged and a head full- not in the best of ways. Connecting with aliveness, yes—and also, if I’m honest, avoiding the pause. It can be vulnerable to stop and feel the undercurrents. But as one of my teachers reminded me, the only true markers of progress in yoga are:
- How steady is your breath?
- How present is your mind?
Even now, I need that reminder. Sometimes I avoid the very practices that would support me most. Avoid the deep undercurrents and inner work in exchange for the joy that quickly turns to depleted prana. And yet, I return—because that’s the practice. Not perfection. Not endless productivity or regulation. Just returning. Gently. Kindly. Courageously. Again and again.
Practice & Support This Week: Prana Vayu
This week, we turn toward Prana Vayu—the upward-moving life wind. Supporting vitality, clarity, and heart-centered energy.
Recommended practices:
- Breath: Inhale retention (as practiced above), or Kapalabhati (cleansing breath)
- Movement: Heart-opening poses—backbends, chest openers, aliveness in the hands and arms
- Restorative: Savasana with heart elevated
- Compassion: Loving-kindness (Maitri) meditations
- Lifestyle: Eat fresh, seasonal, locally-sourced foods when possible
- Inquiry and Journaling Prompts:
- Can you sense where your energy is rising or depleted?
- What areas of your life are asking for attention or tenderness?
- How are you connected to the breath of life within and around you?
Living from the Heart
When caught in spirals of comparison, self-doubt, or judgment, try orienting from your witness self. Imagine your inner state like weather- windy, humid, fiery, dense? Ask what it needs from you presently. Perhaps it’s a breeze of kindness. Space. Time.
Live from that remembering (smriti). Not to rush or fix, but to witness. To be with.
From this space, we can connect more deeply—to self, to others, to nature. We can see past the outer layers (the koshas) into wisdom and love, expressed uniquely through our human experience.
“Who you really are is loving awareness.” - Jack Kornfield
“We are never cut off from spirit, any more than the surface wave is cut off from the ocean floor.” - Mark Nepo
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Let’s keep loving into both shadow and shine.
Pause with presence. Connect with heart. Choose with care.
To another wholehearted week of steady steps, clarity, breath, and belonging.
Here with you in practice. In love & light.
Maya
6/2/25