Yoga and The Power of Now
Sometimes ... well ... most times, the Universe really knows what it's doing.
This last year of my life has been amazing. I've met so many amazing, wonderful, kind, inspiring people that I am truly humbled. I'm not one to preach, but how much and how deeply yoga has affected me sometimes leaves me at a loss for words.
This is not one of those times.
The teachers at my studio are boundless, endless, fountains of love, encouragement, and grace. Everyone has a story of how yoga came in to their life, and the love they have for yoga and their practice just really shines through. And while they push their students to be better, and stronger, they also encourage us to act with love and kindness to ourselves, to be still and just let whatever you happen to be feeling at the time simply ... move through you.
Yoga isn't always easy - in fact, I think if yoga IS easy .. you're not doing it right. Yoga should challenge you. It should challenge your strength, your flexibility; it should challenge your perceptions of yourself, of others, of the world around you.
I've been struggling with Half Moon Pose lately. It was difficult, and it was amazing how the teachers shared in that struggle with me ... and after about a month of really, really struggling with the left side of Half Moon, I finally.fucking.NAILED. it! And the teacher noticed and celebrated in my victory! The same teacher who would stand on the podium, and stare directly at me, hands on his knees, and tell me to "come down and push, come down and push, come down and push!" It astounds me when people see something in me that I don't ... and then I'm a fuckin' rockstar when I see it too!
Learning to be present is probably the biggest challenge. But I'm learning.
Every class is different.
But, I decided to do something about it. I recently bought The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and while some of it is a little confusing, other parts of it fit so perfectly with yoga philosophy it's astounding,
"Love, joy, and peace cannot flourish until you have freed yourself from mind dominance ... love, joy, and peace are deep states of Being, or rather three aspects of the state of inner connectedness with Being. As such they have no opposite." - pg 29
"... the present moment is all you ever have." - pg 35
"Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it," - pg 35
"Stay present, stay conscious. Be the ever-alert guardian of your inner space." - pg 40
This last year of my life has been amazing. I've met so many amazing, wonderful, kind, inspiring people that I am truly humbled. I'm not one to preach, but how much and how deeply yoga has affected me sometimes leaves me at a loss for words.
This is not one of those times.
The teachers at my studio are boundless, endless, fountains of love, encouragement, and grace. Everyone has a story of how yoga came in to their life, and the love they have for yoga and their practice just really shines through. And while they push their students to be better, and stronger, they also encourage us to act with love and kindness to ourselves, to be still and just let whatever you happen to be feeling at the time simply ... move through you.
Yoga isn't always easy - in fact, I think if yoga IS easy .. you're not doing it right. Yoga should challenge you. It should challenge your strength, your flexibility; it should challenge your perceptions of yourself, of others, of the world around you.
I've been struggling with Half Moon Pose lately. It was difficult, and it was amazing how the teachers shared in that struggle with me ... and after about a month of really, really struggling with the left side of Half Moon, I finally.fucking.NAILED. it! And the teacher noticed and celebrated in my victory! The same teacher who would stand on the podium, and stare directly at me, hands on his knees, and tell me to "come down and push, come down and push, come down and push!" It astounds me when people see something in me that I don't ... and then I'm a fuckin' rockstar when I see it too!
Learning to be present is probably the biggest challenge. But I'm learning.
Every class is different.
But, I decided to do something about it. I recently bought The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and while some of it is a little confusing, other parts of it fit so perfectly with yoga philosophy it's astounding,
"Love, joy, and peace cannot flourish until you have freed yourself from mind dominance ... love, joy, and peace are deep states of Being, or rather three aspects of the state of inner connectedness with Being. As such they have no opposite." - pg 29
"... the present moment is all you ever have." - pg 35
"Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it," - pg 35
"Stay present, stay conscious. Be the ever-alert guardian of your inner space." - pg 40
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