सीमा नमस्कार

sīmā namaskār

 

The Sanskrit name sīmā (pronounced see-mah) here refers to the border; and namaskār/a (pronounced with or without the final a) means “salutation or invocation.” Sīmā namaskār, as opposed to its more famous relative sūrya namaskār (“sun salutation”), has not been handed down to us from the enlightened sages of the Vedic Age. Yet, just as the sun was daily worshiped in ancient times, one could argue that our age worships the border. 

Both the sun and the border salutations are made of āsanas, the postures we have learned to identify with yoga. In the sun salutation, twelve āsanas stand for the hours of the day: one performs a cycle in direct and then in reverse order, like a clock advancing then rewinding. By comparison, the border salutation does not flow the same way, one posture into another; in fact, one of the goals of the border salutation is to figure out how to flow through intractable borders.

The six āsanas offered here constitute a personal sīmā namaskār. They are just examples, because there is no set limit of postures for a borderspell.

 

LICENSEPLATĀSANA

 

Bring your hands to your hips & hold your hips down.

Slowly walk in place, lifting your knees up to your hip line.

Let the force of your lifting knees balance the force of your hands on your hips.

Breathe as you wish.

Awareness: On lowering your center of gravity from your hips down.

Benefits: This āsana teaches you how to backpack by placing most of the weight not on your shoulders but on your hips. It may turn you into a walking home, a combination of missing & seeking, airiness & roots.

 

TRUSTĀSANA

 

Stand upright with your feet together.

Extend your arms forward with your hands forming a cup.

Bring your hands back till your fingers touch your shoulders.

Repeat the cycle of extension & return as needed.

Breathe as you should.

Awareness: On the deep tides of movements, the layered repetitions that make us move through life not in linear-logical fashion but in semi-conscious spirals.

Benefits: This āsana teaches you how to practice giving & receiving with every step, balancing openness with self-awareness. In order to carry anything new, you need to let go of something too.

 

XĀSANA

 

Stand with one foot immediately in front of the other.

Make an X with your arms, bracing yourself, then drop them.

Take one step, the other foot now in the front.

Make another X then drop it, switching the order in which your arms do the bracing.

Repeat, walking for as long as you like, or can.

Breathe as you dare.

Awareness: On the work of every step, when the path is narrow & bureaucratic.

Benefits: This āsana teaches resilience in the face of bureaucracy. It helps you focus on each step, doing your best to finalize one form, then let go & start anew, instead of dreading a pile of legal xenophobia.

 

SHAMĀSANA

 

Stand with your feet comfortably apart (e.g., shoulder-width).

Cover your eyes with one of your forearms, the inside of an elbow over your nose.

Leave the other arm relaxed by your side.

Relax the covering arm as you bring the other one up.

Alternate the covering & relieving, as needed.

Breathe as you can.

Awareness: On what you don’t see any time you start believing yourself to be morally superior for any reason; on the cycles of shame & letting go of said shame.

Benefits: This āsana teaches you humbling gratitude when someone assumes your first language is X (when it’s not) & you realize your language is as colonial as X. It teaches you the measure of shame—its educational usefulness & oppressive weight.

 

AMISSĀSANA

 

Stand with your feet comfortably apart (e.g., shoulder-width).

Relax your arms by your side.

Move your shoulders backwards in a circular motion.

It’s ok if your head & feet want to move too.

Breathe as you like.

Awareness: On what you do not miss when you cross a border. The feeling of carrying a heavy backpack for a long time then dropping it on the floor as soon as you arrive “home.” Your shoulders are waves crashing against you—let them crash.

Benefits: This āsana teaches you focus: when you miss “home,” neutralize it with what you don’t miss, so you move lightly. Others may call it being ungrateful, but it is merely anti-romantic & anti-nostalgic; it also liberates your shoulders.

GROUNDSWELLĀSANA

Put one foot comfortably ahead of the other, creating a diagonal.

Lift your arms slowly, palms facing down, in swaying movements.

Let your body wave, from the feet up, your wrists driving the swell.

Once your arms are waving too high & you need a rest, start the groundswell over, with the other foot ahead.

Breathe as you must.

Awareness: On the slow-rise & tipping point of movements. On cycles.

Benefits: This āsana teaches you flexible growth: Jorge Donn dancing Ravel’s Bolero at the end of Les Uns et Les Autres (1981), a choreography Isadora Duncan first learned from a palm tree; a palm tree bending in a hurricane without breaking.