Does this look like your favorite yoga teacher? Do you seek out classes that kick your butt? Do you feel like you can’t get out of your head until you’ve been put through the wringer?
I recently heard a yoga teacher say, “It’s not how much Asana (physical practice) you can DO, it’s how much Asana you NEED to get to the goal, which is meditation.”
In the west, we typically see people coming to yoga for the physical benefits. Some are drawn to gentle yoga, some are drawn to poser yoga, (Ha! That was a typo but I’m leaving it in!) some like it hot, some need the crap kicked out of them in order to find stillness. Some never find stillness. I believe it’s all good for the body. Unless of course you get injured. The physical benefits are numerous. You can’t argue with science.
But things shifted in my life when I started to look at the time on my mat as a means to an end. The physical work was helping me find a more quiet mind. Moving my body into postures, holding them, sometimes shaky, often uncomfortable, started to teach me to work through what I was feeling, instead of run from it.
I learned to sit with the fear of not being able to do something and be the best at it. I observed self doubt about my ability to balance. And I don’t just mean standing on one leg. I was breaking through the barriers I have built around my heart. Letting go. Forgiveness. All hard work, all doorways to a more peaceful mind, and living a life of purpose. I started to Live with Intention.
On my mat, I started to learn to BE with what is.
Today’s meditation invites you to BE with what is. All of it. Maybe you don’t need to twist yourself in knots. Maybe you don’t need to be punished for eating yesterday. Maybe you just need to be where you are…on the mat or cushion or drivers seat or at the dinner table and just BE.
And now the practice of yoga begins…
Namaste.
**Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash
