Are you in a state of flux? Do you sometimes or often times feel overwhelmed by what is happening in our communities and the world at large? As sincere human beings having a human experience, we may often find ourselves in contemplation.…our health and that of friends and family, the future of our nation, the welfare of immigrants, women rights, the safety of our LGBTQ friends, the list can go on and on.

In yoga the beginning of practice is a time for centering…a time to draw ourselves inward to reflect on our truth, our heart. For me, this reflection often leads to compassion, peace and kindness to live in harmony with all beings…with all the friends we have yet to meet.

But what about all our exposure to negative, violent imagery, to angry words that are spewed out by our so-called ‘nations leaders’? Here is the U.S. we have listened for months to the name calling, the dislike tones. And chances are good that we will continue to be exposed to more of this immature behavior.

How can yoga help to pacify our already stressed-out, tension-filled nervous system? I often contemplate what can I offer in my teachings during times of challenge as I feel it too. What yoga tool can help to just ease your suffering if only for a moment? It may not solve the world disorder, it may not change anyone's opinion, but maybe it will move your energy enough to release stress and tension, to move your mind to a place of stillness..if only for a few minutes. Maybe it just makes you giggle.

Here’s the practice that I shared with many of my classes recently…bhujangasana or also known at cobra or serpent. After moving through some spinal movements, opening the front, back and side bodies, we ended up in a prone position on our mats. First, resting the head down on the mat or back of hands…drawing in all the days worries, challenges, anger, fears, etc…you name it, it was there. And once we gathered all this in, we took a deep inhale and rose up from our passive position like a protective serpent guarding its nest and on an exhale we hissed like the most ferocious king cobra. When our exhale was complete, the hiss became silent, we returned to our resting position on our belly. We repeated this several more times until all or most of the venomous hate, negativity, and anger that we’ve been exposed to the past several months, released or at least was diluted a little bit. From here, we just rested.

Anytime you feel overwhelmed with anger, confusion, fear, and just ‘hissed off’, give this yoga practice a try.

Fun cobra fact: The king cobra eats other snakes. Some cobras actually spit venom at their aggressor that can cause blindness. So if you spit while hissing, it’s all good!

To learn more, feel free to reach out to me and lets dilute the hate together.