Have you heard of the term “LIMINAL?”
As a yoga teacher and practitioner I am constantly reading and researching the world around us and its relationship with me. The other day, I was reading an article by Lizzie Lasater, a teacher of restorative yoga. The article focused on a term I have not heard before,“liminal.” As I read the definition, though, I could see where it fits into my life and probably yours. According to Ms. Lasater, “liminal is a great word that points to the in-between, where things are neither here nor there, capturing the richness embedded in transition and ambiguity.”
 |
Anthropologists originally coined the term, liminality. This term, “referred to various rites of passage in life. It’s the crossing over from one state to another, as from sleep to wakefulness.” Such passages are composed of three stages: 1) leaving where you’ve been, or experiencing a loss: 2) passing through an ambiguous stage or feeling grief: and 3) emerging into a new realm with new resolve.” (Neurauter)
Take a moment and look at your own life and the changes you have been through. Some of these changes are expected and others are not. According to Neurauter, “there is no choice and little, if any, time to prepare. We generally don't know how we are going to feel or react. This could be the most challenging liminal state of all.” I am taken back to the sudden death of my baby brother. One moment I am at home cleaning the house and the next I get a phone call from my oldest brother, in a very quiet and reserved voice, telling me that our baby brother passed away. With our parents, we could see where their lives were going and could prepare for the time when they would leave this world. But, with my brother, there was no warning, no preparation, no time to act.
Mourning the sudden death of someone can really make one realize how truly short life is. But, the hardest part is moving on from the tragedy and not letting it consume you. This transition time from mourning, to accepting, to moving on may become an opportunity to reflect on one’s life choices and see if changes need to be made. I looked at where my brother was in his life and decided that his passing only reinforced that path that I had chosen. “Liminality can provide the foundation of rich soil to grow creative ideas….though fear, loneliness, and anxiety may try to interfere, know this is just the fragile, threatened ego trying to block you.” (Neurauter) My oldest brother, I believe, is still working through his best friend’s death; and it will take some time, but he has also realized the memories of their time together will always be with him.
How does this term “liminality” fit into your yoga practice and your life’s journey? Have you been through times of difficulty and had to work through their consequences, often one day at a time? I have heard from my people that I work with the times when life threw them the infamous, “curve ball.” An unexpected joyful or sorrowful event occurs; and as a result, they really begin to think about where life was taking them. Yoga and its philosophy, the joining of the breath, mind and body can be a wonderful tool during times of transition after these events.
Our mats become our place of refuge, our place to explore our lives, our place to discover where we see ourselves, our place to ground through our thoughts and feelings. Each part of the practice can be used to help us through the transitions we may be experiencing. Lasaseter uses Savasana as an example, writing, “you intentionally spend time in a liminal state of consciousness. Neither here nor there.”
Neurauter brings in meditation as a tool during these times of liminality. She writes for us, as we sit in meditation to, “watch your mind, your thoughts, and your feelings. See the problems as objects floating inside your head based on your perceptions, not as who you really are. Invited the ego, with all its cohorts, to sit in your guesthouse of awareness while you openly explore the vast possibilities that could be open to you. Explore the liminal space between thoughts, between breaths. Where truth, peace, and love reside, and brings you to a place of wholeness, where you can re-assimilate in the world.”
I love being a lifelong learner of life! Everytime I read an article, travel to a workshop, talk with the people I teach, I learn more about how life affects all of us. And, I learn how to work with what life throws at us.
Resources:
Lizzie Lasater, “Liminal Space,” Aug. 20, 2023
Jacqui Neurauter, https://yogachicago.com/2014/01/liminality-navigating-the-space-in-between/
