There is nothing like feeling radiantly alive.  Having enough energy to engage your life, relationships and work in a healthy and balanced way is essential to wellbeing.  What follows is a practice for helping  you cultivate and recognize your natural vibrancy.  The practice is two fold.  First, we tune in to the frequency of our energy body, or prana, and second we then invite awakening to this body through a variety of exercises. 

Awareness:  Here we are basically changing the "channel" of our attention.   We shift our attention from the channel of thoughts, preconceived notions about ourselves and our body, ideas and concepts to the channel of direct perception of sensation in the body.  As we descend our attention and dwell there for a few minutes we begin to sense the aliveness that "just is" within our tissues, bones and cells.  I like to tap the body from head to toe, as in Qi Gong, as a way to help focus attention on energy,  Spending time connecting to this aliveness it starts to become apparent that this aliveness is bigger than the borders of our physical flesh and bone.  We start to feel ourselves as expanded and spacious.  In connecting to our energy we become more sensitive to the flows and blockages within.   Often just shifting our attention to the energy body, our aliveness, creates a greater sense of well being because we are no longer focussing on worrysome thoughts or areas of discomfort in the body. 

Relaxation:  Allowing awareness to fall on all parts of our being is the first step toward relaxation.  Try it.  As you let your awareness fall on sensation, emotion and thought without getting stuck anywhere there is a natural unwinding uf tensions that take place.  When tensions release energy that has been locked in holding patterns can flow.  There is a misconception in yoga that faster paced, more rigorous styles of yoga are most effective for increasing energy.  Often, especially for beginners, fast paced classes does not allow for us to "tune in" and instead simply reinforced mental, physical and energetic patterns that keep us locked up.   As we relax through guided relaxation or supportive asana, muscles release, energy, blood, oxygen and nutrients can flow through our system and we become more sensitive and alive. 

Breath:  As the muscles and mental patterns that have us locked down around our diaphragm start to soften the breath becomes freer.  As we breath more fully the blood becomes more oxygenated, there is a feeling of lightness that results through the muscles.   The breathwork can be simple 3 part breath, or more complex pranayama such as ujjayi and kapalabhati.  If you are a beginner it is enough to just increase the depth and length of the breath.  (all complex pranayama should be done with an experienced teacher to begin with).

Movement:  Having cultivated a relaxed and tuned in attitude and more open breath we can now engage a movement practice that will truly build and free energy .  Asana, in the form of gentle flows, where muscles contract and release helps to pump blood, oxygen and nutrients through the system.  Heat arises and dissolves, joints find their range of motion, sinovial fluid is moved, lymph is circulated.  All of these things are the manifestation of energy's animating force flowing and working in your being.  Sometimes there are insights and emotions that rise up.  It's all energy. We are all energy.  From the gentle flowing asana it is helpful to move into static poses where we can spend time feeling, continually reconnecting to energy.  The static postures allows us to move into blockages and allow them more and more space to unwind.  Here we find ways of being in the body that fosters efficient use of energy and movement through alignment cues.  Once we are warm and aware then engaging a back bend sequence nourishes the nervous system and fosters alertness and vigor. 

Grounding:  After building energy the tendency is to want it to serve the ego's desire to get more done or go faster.  So we spend time in grounding asana, relaxation and setting intention.  Can your new found energy serve Spirit rather than ego?  Luckily, when getting in touch with our energy we also get in touch with the subtler connections and relationships around us.  It is easier to serve Spirit, or the Good of the Whole, when we engage life from a place beyond our ideas and thoughts. 

This practice is an introduction to playing in the realm of energy.  Have fun with it!  Let me know what you find!
If you have interest in engaging this practice in more depth please join me for the Vibrant Life Retreat on August 7th, 2010 held at Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, 20 minutes north of Camrose, Alberta.  If you think exploring energy is great alone wait til you try it in a group!