Connection

There is something to be said about the inner journey of yoga and of life.  There is a peace in going away, being plucked away from your normal rhythm, and the same peace of coming back home again. Yoga is a sacred world in itself. It always amazes me when I go to a training to deepen my knowledge and study of yoga, the connection I have with the others on the same path as me for that moment.  It doesn't matter if we don't speak the same language or even practice the same style of yoga, we share the same language of the body, the mind, the heart, and the soul that is the practice. This has been the case when I travel to teach abroad or attend a training here in the States. A few weeks, back I finished another training and my journey was long. Long for many reasons, both internal and external to me, yet the journey was the same......a long slow spiral inward to deepen my soul-connection to myself and to others.  

The connection with a few of these people was and is deep right from the moment we met.  ‘Ahhh, I get you and WE are going to be FRIENDS for a long time,” type of feel. We have each poured our hearts and souls into the practice.  We have suffered, cried, laughed and loved together. We know what it means to put in the work and grow, evolve and expand from the practice and each other.  We come humbly before one another to learn, to explore, and to grow. We each had our own path, but the lesson was the same. We learned to break our glass house, take off our armor, and crack our hearts wide open. By doing so we each chose love, connection, intimacy and real wisdom.  Each of us had our own unique experiences that brought us to this magical point where all of our lives intertwined to strengthen, embolden, and deepen each other so that we could become more brilliant.  I am so grateful to have intertwined with these training buddies....we were meant to meet.....we were meant to teach.....we were meant to explore....we were meant to break a little to grow back stronger....

Yoga isn’t about creating perfect beings or a perfect pose. It’s about learning to live from the heart. My practice is the place where I stumble and fall, the place where I am student, where I give myself the freedom not to know, to explore the terrain of my body, my mind, my heart, and my soul. Sometimes there are surprises and sometimes there is just the steady work of getting on the mat and seeing the reality of my inner world clearly..through God’s eyes rather than my own… And sometimes there is just the silence of my breath. I practice because each time I get off my mat I’m just a little more vulnerable, a little more humble, and a little bit stronger. On my mat I remember how to feel, how to let go, how to forgive, and how to grow. I choose when to challenge myself and when to back off, when to be bold, and how to be gentle. I find my balance. Yoga offers me a wordless place that I can find, deep in my breath where my mind starts to seem less important. I can move to build heat, to burn away my struggles, and to let my heart become free; free to feel. There is discipline in asana: shoulders on the back, pelvis neutral, feet rooted, spine long, inhale/exhale, rotation inward and outward reaching, keep focus on nothing but everything. I become completely present. I find forgiveness as I exhale. I am truly able to uncover my graceful self, easy in my own body, soft and grateful in my heart.  Within my practice, I find a place...a space...where I am complete with alive stillness connected to God. 

So there it is……connection…..connect to self. Connect toe each other. Be better. Do better. Together.

Onward and upward.