Blissology
Eoin Finn kicked off his workshop, Yoga for Happiness and Bliss, at Thursday’s BaliSpirit Festival by polling the crowd. He asked if we knew our life’s mission by show of hands. About half of the hands were in the air. Next he asked us to contemplate these four questions and share them with someone we haven’t met yet;
- Where in our body do we hold our stresses and inadequacies (that old one-two punch!)
- Who do we need to forgive
- Who lights us up
- What was our last take-your-breath-away moment with nature
After the sharing there was a complete cipher of shoulder and back massages from one person to the next, while we leaned back and into the circle so much that we were SITTING on the knees of the person behinds us. We were not a small group, it was pretty epic.
We moved from our circle to an asana flow that was big on heart-opening and bringing prana into those places that we might often forget to get the breath to.
“The trick,” Eoin said, “to finding our life’s mission, is following our bliss.”
Eoin unrolled a large poster with the word Blissology on it and a droplet shape that rippled outward in four layers. The inner most is the bliss of our BODY, achieved through our practice on the mat. The next layer is our inter-personal RELATIONSHIPS, Eoin’s class was entirely an exercise on building the courage to make these intimate connections with everyone we come across. Not knowing our neighbors names or the people in our home yoga studios is no longer acceptable for any yoga practitioner. Which brings us to the third layer, COMMUNITY. It’s ours to build, ours to enjoy. Eoin suggested relishing in this gathering of like minds at BaliSpirit. And finally, the fourth layer of the Blissology droplet is the bliss of NATURE, honoring our planet and living in harmony with the rhythms of the land, the oceans, and the animals that surround and support us.
Eoin’s life mission, as he told it, is to get out in nature, to absorb the energy of nature and to radiate it out as positive energy.
I definitely got the full solar effect. And basked in it for hours afterward.
Fun fact: If you see hammocks newly strung around the Purnati grounds, Eion is behind those, and encourages us all to get our hammock enlightenment on.
All you have to do is look up.
Written by : Alexis Lea Arvidson