November 4 – 6, 2022
Casa Payer – Luserna San Giovanni

When I surrender what I am, I become what I can be.

Lao Tzu

From the Latin laxare: to widen, to loosen, to release.

1. TO WIDEN: Contrary to what we usually think, the etymology of the word “leave” (from Latin laxare – to widen, loosen, release) suggests a possibility of acquisition rather than loss. It implies integration, rather than fragmentation and separation. It’s about making space, expanding in awareness, acquiring a new dimension of possibility (nothing new can enter a room full of junk). As Lao Tzu said, “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
   In yoga practice, we’ll focus on the principle of SPACE. This includes the eyes, the “heart” openings (spinal extensions), and the symbolic, archetypal place of Union, representing the non-dual essence of our energy.
   
2. TO LOOSEN: Loosening the grip that clenches our fists and constricts our breath into narrow spaces. Loosening attachments. First and foremost, attachment to preconceived ideas about ourselves. “I am just like this” is our worst tyrant. What could happen if I stop fighting to preserve the idea I have of myself, of my body? How much energy do I expend in this effort of preservation? What is the underlying fear?
   In our yoga practice, we’ll work on the principle of mobility, on the possibility of releasing joint resistances (forward folds – hip/pelvic mobility). We’ll build this possibility from a necessary and preparatory stabilization and activation of the core (deep abdominals, spinal erectors). The element inspiring our practices will be fire.
   
3. TO RELEASE/DISSOLVE: To restore fluidity to what has become crystallized, rigid, or frozen. Moving from judgmental control to the practice of soft acceptance. From limiting beliefs to an inclusive, open vision. Nothing in nature is truly immobile; energy is ordered vibration, rhythmic pulsation.
   In our yoga practice, we’ll focus on fluidity and twists, a category of postures that releases trapped vital energy and dissolves accumulations by eliminating toxins, the superfluous, the exhausted, and the excessive. We’ll conclude with a Vinyasa practice: by moving dynamically from one form to another, we approach the body and inner world like explorers, trying to abandon stereotypical names and interpretations from language and culture, making space for a raw and free way of feeling. We’ll let sensations and emotional states emerge, trying not to name or judge them, but allowing the experience to flow by abandoning resistance and barriers. Once we reach the peak of warmth, we’ll have the opportunity to ‘offer up’ the fruits of our experience, the residues of our emotional experiences, the machinations that reason has held onto about them, and… let go.

Letting go is a necessity, as autumn teaches us. There’s no possibility of blooming again if we don’t first release something. There wouldn’t be space, nor energy to expand outward and create, if we didn’t first shed the old, the exhausted. This means accepting the cyclical nature, the intrinsic undulating movement of life. Our energy would implode or stagnate in a deadly inertia. Dissolving, loosening, creating space are the prerequisites for the constantly renewing creative process.

The practices.

• Day 1
  Let’s shed our usual “garments.” We’ll leave roles and habitual social behaviors outside the seminar, letting go of the images—collected in our memory—that we have of ourselves and of others we already know. We’ll release “the friend,” “the partner,” “the colleague.” We’ll work to be in the group as authentically as possible, noticing the masks we unthinkingly, automatically use to make ourselves hypothetically “likeable,” “interesting,” “cultured,” or to hide and remain “outside” the group. Let’s arrive stripped down, essential. We’ll observe how much weight the opinions of others have on the preservation of a rigid, inauthentic identity.
  
  a. What do we want to let go of today? An attitude that limits me, a habit that constrains me, a weight that burdens me, an aspect of ourselves or our material existence that is exhausted and no longer serves us? In making this choice, I guide myself by simplicity, authenticity, and the “line of greatest resistance.”
  b. What do we need to loosen to allow this letting go? What grip must I release? What attachment holds me anchored? What am I clinging to that keeps me from setting sail? One word, two at most. Let’s abandon intellectualizations and psychological interpretations. Write spontaneously, with ruthless loving-kindness. Let’s become aware of our intrinsic tendency to lie. The moment we recognize the lie we reiterate, truth will be born within us.
  
• Day 2
  c. What is the rigidity to dissolve? Does it manifest as fear, hyper-control, or a conviction? What part of myself can I accept (instead of fleeing or fighting) to facilitate the process of “letting go”? What in another person (through my own reactivity) points to an energetic quality, an aspect of myself that I haven’t yet seen or understood?
  
• Day 3
  d. What new space of possibility opens for me as a natural consequence of letting go? What new quality or aspect could I integrate into my existence? In what direction can I expand? What new freedom does this letting go grant me? Who can/do I want to be? I dive deep into the creative imaginative process.
  
  Let’s draw inspiration from the idea of “space,” opening ourselves to the sensation of the vastness of existence, of which we are “merely” a trickle. At the same time, let’s grasp the universe hidden within a single detail of ourselves. We’ll train our intuition to perceive the essence beyond the surface, the meaning beyond sensory data, without getting caught by singularity and losing sight of the whole. Instead, we’ll strive to grasp the continuity that exists between every aspect of us and every manifestation, every single thing in the world around us.

The sessions, courses, seminars, retreats, and materials offered by Sarangi are for inner exploration, problem-solving, and personal growth. They are not a substitute for the work of doctors and psychotherapists, as they do not address, treat, or aim to resolve medical or health-related pathologies and symptoms.