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Friday, October 19, 2012

Everyday Wisdom from the Yoga Studio


So why write a post about yoga? Anyone who practices yoga knows why and anyone who hasn't practiced yoga may after reading this.
My time spent volunteering in Africa was a time to get outside of myself by giving to conservation projects that would inevitably end up giving me more than I could ever have imagined. The experience brought me to a place that I never knew existed.
But you don't have to go to the middle of Africa to get to this place within - yoga can take you there. Like the stillness that comes from an object moving so fast, at such high vibration that it appears to be still - that is where yoga leads: stillness. Stillness from the flow of energy so high and fast that it appears motionless. Erich Schiffmann says this is the place where God is allowed to flow freely within us.

Set your intention and come back to it when your mind begins to wander to non-purpose serving thoughts.
Be here now.
Focus on your drishti, your point of balance and all distractions will melt away.
Do not strive for perfection; strive for acceptance instead.
Shine the light from your heart into your neighbor's heart, it costs you nothing but is the most precious thing you can give away.
Share your breath with your neighbor.
When you reach a point of difficulty, breathe and your breath will carry you through.
Trust your breath and follow it wholeheartedly, it will never abandon you.
Be grateful to your body and see it for the miracle it is.
You already have all the pieces to be what you want to be. You just have to be willing to change your shape.
When you feel good, hold onto it.
Create a welcoming space and the universe will fill it.
It doesn't matter how you look in the mirror but how you feel does.
Move into stillness. When you experience the stillness within you, you are experiencing God within you.
Prayer is how we talk to God; meditation is God talking to us.
Trust yourself for when you do, you will realize fearlessness.
Surrender.

Erich Schiffmann on the Practice of Yoga - 
The purpose of yoga is to facilitate the profound inner relaxation that accompanies fearlessness. The release from fear is what finally precipitates the full flowering of love. In this state you will love what you see in others, and others will love you for having been seen. This is the softened perception of the world that yoga promotes.
            Therefore, the apparently simple benefits that accrue from the regular practice of yoga can change your life in very profound ways. Do not underestimate the value of being balanced, centered, and coordinated, of being strong and light, of being more flexible, without pain, experiencing the subsequent feelings of invisibility or transparency, and of being more sensitive....
            Yoga will make you sensitive to the stillness, the presence, the hush, the peace of God. This deep inner stillness is at the core of your being. It is the ground, the joy of your being. The radiant peace you'll experience is what happens naturally when the creative energy of God is allowed to flow through you unobstructed.

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