Ride the Mideline

The midline is the axis of your body which runs from the crown of your head, along your spine, down to the base of your pelvis. The midline is your centerline where the right and left side come together, creating a place of stability both in the body and mind. When we physically hug into the midline, this creates a sense of stability in poses, especially balancing poses - and a sense of lightness in standing poses.

Ancient yogis were interested in working with the midline from a spiritual and energetic perspective. They were trying to balance both right and left sides/energy channels of the body - also known as ida and pingala. They believed they could then funnel that balanced energy into their central channel - the sushumna - which runs along the central axis of the body. Running up the length of the spine to the top of the head (ie. the midline), the sushumna is the channel to enlightenment and your connection to understanding divinity.

Where the right and the left come together is no longer the left or the right - it is simply the center, the middle, where the two side merge to become one - to become whole.

This month in my classes I have been focusing on hugging into the midline and bringing awareness to the center of the body by identifying where the right and the left meet and come together. Activating the centerline allows us to  find more stability in poses, as well as more stability in the mind because we tap into our wholeness. The right and left are no longer separate, no longer fragmented, but simply joined and unified to create one strong and stable center.

When the world is whirling around you and you feel like you’re being pulled in 10 different directions at once, I invite you to bring your hands together in front of your heart, gently press your palms together, and feel where the two come together. Sense the space where you can no longer differentiate between right and left, but just sense the center - the whole.