Why do we revolve our poses? The revolution of asana twists the internal organs, eases openness into the joints, helps the feet to find the earth, elongates and cleanses the spine...
But it also brings us around to see the opposing iteration of a pose, the opposing forces of a stance, the muscles opposing those that held the body up while facing the other direction.
Perspective.
One of my mentors has a saying that sticks with me. When she is trying to show me the light of a situation, she soothes my ego by reminding me that awareness and lack of awareness might be "no farther apart than two sides of the same coin." Trikonasana and Parivrtta Trikonasana depict this paper-thin space between two spaces of awareness beautifully.
My dear teacher once told us that one of the many powers of yoga is its ability to bring our awareness to those emotions that oppose the ones we're having. It's not to discount or smother what we feel, but rather just to allow us to become aware of the other side.
Synthesizing his words with those of my mentor, and beginning to understand the revolution of asana in a more holistic way, I discover something new, something that challenges mainstream suggestions that the way out of hardship and heartbreak is linear. It occurs to me that it may sometimes be possible to get to the other side of a dark place without necessarily having to set out on a long arduous journey of slogging through our pain. In other words: though we may not be able to bring ourselves out of fury or sadness right away, we might be able to see that the other side of anger and sorrow sits quietly very, very close by. In this way, parivrtta of the mind may help to soothe and open the heart.
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