Every morning as part of the Satoyama Yoga warm-up sequence, we twist our spine in a movement I call Washing Machine. It’s a direct descendent of a Kundalini kriya. Last weekend, we practiced art meditation and I unexpectedly drew the pose and I like it. I thought I’d share Washing Machine and also how to do the meditation.
How to Practice Washing Machine
Mentally, it’s a way to clean your psychic laundry – bad moods, unwanted thoughts, heavy emotions. I imagine myself tossing them into the washing machine and then using my breath and movement to wash them away. I sometimes close my eyes to imagine my pile of wrinkled resentments, stained moods, and stinky anxieties going from black to grey to white.
Physically, movement is mainly in the mid-spine and side muscles around your ribs. You sit on the floor or in a chair. Stretch your arms out wide; roll your shoulders down your back with your shoulder blades coming together. Bend your elbows, hands facing in, fingers spread wide. Alternately, drop your hands to your shoulders or rest them on top of your head. You want to keep elbows in line with your shoulders, so whatever works best for you.
Then you start the machine, twisting to the left as you loudly exhale through your mouth. As you twist rightward, you will naturally take a breath in. Starting slow to give your spine a chance to loosen up, you can then choose to go faster or to twist more deeply. Or both! Twist for as long as you need to get all that physic laundry clean, then slow down and stop. In class, I signal the end of the move with a washing machine style BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.
Drawing Meditation
The drawing shown here is my result from this weekend’s Drawing Meditation session. We were playing with a three-part art meditation process: logical preparation; mental switching; and creative play.
First we folded a paper in half lengthwise and wrote our name along the center line. Then we carefully drew a mirrored version of our name on the opposite side of the center fold, letting the bottoms of the letters touch or overlap. This challenging process helps your brain to switch from following instructions into a more creative mode. And finally, we looked for a figure or design in the shape and added details to bring it out on the page.
In my Washing Psychic Laundry drawing, the top of the yoga mat and the knees of the yogini are formed from the K, the arms are the t and the eye is the loop of the e. The rest of my name is pretty well hidden in details.
