"One Self shines equally in all." – Swami Vishnu-devananda
This site is for you
from Yoga2You
This site was designed for you. Please use this blog space to share--whether about yoga happenings, a class, studio or teacher you follow, a Kirtan CD that transforms you, or something deeply personal. (Sign up at the blog log-in on the right to add your comments.)
For me, I recall that when I was a new student to yoga, the teacher gave us an article about the hardest pose. It said what was most difficult about yoga was consistency of practice. I think this is easier for some than for others, but even as a teacher, I struggle for consistency in practice. And yet, consistency, I know, is so important for receiving all the benefits we can from yoga.
Some of the struggle is discipline in general, never my strongest trait, but there also is a struggle with permission to allow myself that goodness. I feel guilty about taking a couple hours to practice. I feel guilty about taking a half-hour to do pranayama (yoga breathing exercises) and meditation. I try to remind, tell, encourage myself that it is my job to come to the practice mat daily--that I would be fired from any job I didn't report to every day. Still, I struggle. And I have to ask, what if it weren't my job?
Sometimes the hardest thing I think for many of us is having the permission to be as kind, as caring and nurturing to ourselves as we can be inclined to be to others. Even though yoga always makes me feel and function better, I sometimes avoid my mat. Sometimes it is the guilt of accepting all that good. Othertimes I wonder if it is because when we are on the mat we come face to face with ourselves. And even though yoga teaches us to accept where we are each day and that every day is different, sometimes we don't want to be face to face with ourself--for whatever reason. We are, after all, only human, and avoiding ourselves is at times as much a part of the human condition as avoiding homework.
The word namaste more or less means "from the divinity within me to the divinity within you." It also means I bow to the divine I see in you and it reflects back to the divine in me. It means we all have this spark of the divine and, a bit like clapping for Tinkerbell, it seems like we help it live when we collaboratively clap for it.
Yoga2You.us is meant to serve as a kind of yoga oasis, where yogis and non-yogis alike are invited to visit and share, to clap for that spark of the divine to grow. May our collective use of this blog space grow with time to a thunderous applause. Namaste.
Why yoga works—simply
Ancient yogis knew the benefits that came with regular yoga practice. Today, advancements in technology enable scientists to show precisely how these ancient practices work to benefit the mind and body. Yogis have been passing on the teachings of yoga for nearly 5,000 years.
Most simply, using proper breathing, especially during asana practice, enables the average person to develop the breathing apparatus and strengthen the vital life force. Once that begins, everything else flows from it. Why yoga works is really that simple. Any time you lie on the mat and breathe, the benefits of yoga begin.
There is a saying in yoga that when we control the breath, we control the life force, and when you think about that, it's really true.
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Yoga Poetry
Attention Yogi Poets: Please submit your Yoga Poetry for publication in this corner--share your artistic light with others. (Poet keeps all rights.) Meanwhile, please enjoy these prayers and chants that follow. Namaste.
I first became aware of this prayer during Yoga Teachers Training. It is one of my favorites, and it is also a call-and-response chant that is sometimes sung during satsang. Enjoy!
A Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon,
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive--
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
“Health is wealth, peace of mind is happiness. Yoga shows the way.”
