Footprints
Barbara Verrrochi, Kristin Leigh and Melanie Jane Parker
In this year of extraordinary groundlessness, practitioners of all lineages seem to be focused on grounding. Although there are over 7,000 nerve endings in each foot, it still requires effort to drop down out of the whirring mind and into our base of support. Our teachers offer us techniques to remember our connection with the earth: noticing where the body meets the floor, sensing the density of our bones, and rooting through our feet.
Practice includes not only our formal techniques but our quality of presence in everyday situations. Every day we have opportunities for standing in and staying with ourselves. For example, your son comes home from school and sits down to have a snack. He starts telling you about his day as you move around the kitchen, cleaning and preparing dinner. Your mind is busy and distracted, only catching bits of what he’s telling you. He’s 17, in his senior year of high school, and you’re thinking that this is your last December with him living at home. Then you start thinking about whether you have enough almond milk for your coffee tomorrow morning, and whether you should have said something different to your friend on the phone. Suddenly you realize you aren’t listening to him. You stop. You stand still. The pull to continue acting out the busyness of the mind is strong, and your restraint requires effort—the effort of feeling into your feet, stilling your body, and landing in present time.
When we stand in samasthiti (equal standing) with toes spread, heels anchored, and inner arches lifted, the feet make an imprint of presence and intention. In yoga we call the imprint of past actions saṁskāras. The resonance of our past actions accompany us into the present and echo on into the future. If we want to work effectively with our saṁskāras and begin to establish new, more conscious patterns, we must start from the ground up.
In the third chapter (Vibhūti Pāda) of The Yoga Sūtras, Patañjali describes one of the three transformations of the mental patterns of the adept yogi, Nirodha Pariṇāma, where there is a disappearance of outgoing (worldly and roaming) imprints and the appearance of ingoing (quiet and restrained) imprints. Due to the repeated imprints of ingoing, there is a calm and tranquil flow of the mind (3.9-10).
Our world is ripe for new individual and collective imprints that take into account the truth of our interdependence with one another and the earth. Grounding is relational; it entails relating to the ground as well as to those we share this ground with. Each time we embody the process of nirodha, we learn how to be with reality as it is. We learn how to stand up for ourselves and others, and how to imagine more fully what it might be like to walk in another’s shoes. We feel prepared to roll up our sleeves and do skillful work, like alleviating suffering in our community and marching en masse in the name of justice and equity. In a world of relentless movement, the opportunities for stillness are infinite.
Practice Tip
As you move through your day, pause and bring your awareness into your feet. Begin from the top of your head and work downward, softening your face and releasing tension as you go. As you wash the dishes, fold the laundry, prepare a meal, tackle work tasks, or engage in conversation, feel the relationship between your feet and the earth. Notice how this informs the quality of your thoughts, speech, and actions.
Feet of Goddess, Uttar Pradesh, c. 5th century
3.9 व्युत्थाननिरोधसंस्कारयोरभिभवप्रादुर्भावौ निरोधक्षणचित्तान्वयो निरोधपरिणामः ।।९।।
VYUTTHĀNA-NIRODHA-SAŇSKĀRAYOR ABHIBHAVA-PRĀDUR-BHĀVAU
NIRODHA-KṢAṆA-ĆITTĀNVAYO NIRODHA-PARIṆĀMAḤ.
The state of restraint, nirodha, is when there is disappearance of outgoing [i.e., worldly] saṁskāras and the appearance of restraining saṁskāras. These emerge in the mind at the moment of restraint.
3.10 तस्य प्रशान्तवाहिता संस्कारात् ।।१०।।
TASYA PRAŚĀNTA-VĀHITĀ SAŇSKĀRĀT.
The mind’s undisturbed flow occurs due to saṁskāras.
— The Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali translation and commentary from Edwin Bryant
Kristin Leigh and Barbara Verrochi have co-owned The Shala Yoga in New York City since 2002. They co-direct The Shala’s 200- & 300-hour teacher training and mentorship programs. Currently, they teach Ashtanga, vinyasa, and meditation classes via The Shala’s online platform. They are both moms to teenage boys.
Melanie Jane Parker is a student, teacher, and writer living in Brooklyn, New York.
