SHESHA

Have you ever heard the phrase “sleep on it”? 

It takes time to process things. Just like it takes time to develop a steady practice.  To get the full perspective. To identify what we are actually feeling. To get the clear view after everything has panned out. 

They say hindsight is 20/20.

After a pose or the practice there is said to be the “shesha” or śesa, the residue of the posture. the word śesa appears in Sanskrit texts and implies the "remainder"—that which remains when all else ceases to exist. It’s only something you can experience after the fact. 

Our practice asks us to get to the bottom of things. To dig deep and sit with our stuff. To sit with the residue of ourselves. Our guck at the bottom of our being.

This is SO counter-intuitive because who likes guck? and why the hell should we sit with it?

When we sit in the residue of something that means that everything else has disappeared. That everything that isn’t meant to stay has already left. Kind of like when you pour out a cup of liquid there still a little bit left. Yoga is about getting in touch with the remainder of things. Getting to the bottom of things. The things that doesn’t change. The “remainder” they say, gives us insight into what remains when everything else falls away. That which remains when all else ceases to exist.