Let Your Head Hang Heavy

Several years ago, I began a yoga practice. Being too frugal and too unsure of how I would like it, I decided to forgo the spendy price of a yoga membership and instead perused YouTube until I found something I liked. 

Despite being most interested in the stretching, it didn't take long before I noticed that yoga was about much more than that. The instructor frequently inserted brief comments or metaphors that struck a powerful chord in my spirit. One of her simpler phrases has been returning to me recently: 

Let your head hang heavy.

Physiologically, our heads are pretty darn important. Symbolically, our heads are also often on a pedestal. To "let my head hang heavy" - while upside down in some vulnerable yoga pose - felt profoundly counter-intuitive. It was as if I thought that if I didn't hold my neck stiff and control what my head was doing, it might fall right off my body. 

But it didn't. As I released the strain in my neck, I found that my legs were strong and supportive, that the structural integrity of my body kept my head safe. I relaxed, my vertebrae realigning to their proper place, and I realized that trusting my whole self was more powerful and more healing - for my body and for my spirit - than the illusion of control I so fiercely protected.

Invitation

What might it look like for you to “let your head hang heavy,” to release control and self-protection - even if it’s just for a moment? What metaphoric vertebrae might realign for you? What strength and support might you find in the letting go?