Once you find your tipping point and stay effortless in an inversion, there's just something so endearing yet quirky, in looking at the world the other way up.
The miles you put into staying in an effortless inversion don't come free. You wouldn't believe the number of times I've fallen down from Sirsasana straight into Savasana, when I first started my yoga practice! The countless (and frustrating) times you fall down, is just part of the journey of awakening, to what is happening within the body and the mind.
This feeling of awakening, is what is called "tapas" (or heat). This is not necessarily a physical heat but more of a metaphorical burning.
"When people first experience tapas, there is often a sense of discomfort, a desire to squirm away from the situation because it is so authentic; it is as if a border of life is being eaten away by fire. But if we stick with the observational practice, if we do not run away when we reach the juncture where tapas first arises.... there is a residue of clarity and relief that is discernable in the breath and is actually felt in the body. Our very own body, which is immediately available to us, becomes a laboratory of consciousness, a field of exploration into the truth of our own existence, so that, our body becomes a temple for open awareness" - Richard Freeman, in The Mirror of Yoga.
Do you remember your first tapas experience?
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