Invoking Lakshmi for Abundance in Your Yoga Practice
In the pantheon of Hindu deities, Lakshmi, the mother goddess, is the symbol of beauty, good fortune, and prosperity. She is the feminine counterpart and wife of Vishnu, one of the three main gods in Hinduism and the Absolute Supreme Being in Vaishnava, and she blesses her devotees with material and spiritual wealth.
And who knows? Letting more of her into your daily life may help you achieve more in every area, from work through to leisure, whether you spend your off-time at popular Roulette tables or on more sedate practices!
Lakshmi’s Four Hands Linked to Four Qualities
Lakshmi’s four hands link the goddess to the four features that allow for transformation.
One is dedicated to dharmic principles, the idea of living a directed, ordered life in agreement with ethical, cosmic, and moral codes. The second symbolises kāma, the longing for physical and spiritual fulfilment, and her third hand links her to artha, material abundance and comfort. Her fourth hand is a symbol of self-actualisation or moksha.
She is usually depicted with a lotus blossom, a flower which grows in mud and represents the evolution of man toward greater levels of self-realisation and increasing refinement.
Invoking Lakshmi’s Qualities in Meditation
Call on Lakshmi’s qualities during your meditation by focussing on the abundance and support already present within your world, breathing into the knowledge that you already have everything you need. Keeping your eyes closed and your breath steady, open your heart to the world around you, taking in everything you hear. These can include the beat of your heart, birds chirping through the window, and even snatches of conversation and the hum of traffic outside.
Take note of how rich an experience even just listening is, and understand your place in the world around you. Then imagine that the noises are filtering into you, unifying with your own individual ego and watch how you expand and become connected to the rest of the world.
Call on Lakshmi During Asana
Focus on the deity’s qualities of abundance, fertility, and gentleness during your yoga practice. Regardless of your actual gender, bring her feminine qualities into balance as you start creating a pattern for living with more serenity.
Lakshmi is connected to the second, sacral chakra, which governs creativity, enjoyment, and pleasure, so creating a yoga sequence around poses which focus on the lower abdomen is especially helpful.
Start off in Reclined Cobbler’s Pose, or Supta Baddha Konasana, and feel how strongly the earth supports you in opening your body and mind to new possibilities. Place one hand over your heart and the other on your belly and see a connection being created between the qualities of open-heartedness and fertility.
Shift into more active poses, like Downward Dog or Adho Mukha Shvanasana, and Sun Salutations, or the Surya Namaskar sequence. Then begin hip-openers like Half- and Double-Pigeon Pose, Eka Pada Rajakpotasana and Kapotasana, Frog, or Mandukasana pose, and the Happy Baby Pose, or Ananda Balasana.
Work your way towards Half Lotus, Full Lotus, and Flowering Lotus, or Ardha Padmasana, Padmasan, and Vrksasana, to connect more deeply with Lakshmi’s transformative potential, and feel the bounty in yourself and your world as you settle into a deep Mrtasana or Corpse Pose.