Some of the lessons I've learned from doing yoga have become essential for how I move through the world. Three simple lessons that have sustained my inner growth and expansion are as follows:
1) Create Inner Spaciousness:
When you suddenly find that you are off balance energetically, let the situations surrounding your current state inform you. Become aware of what or who is affecting your energy. Consider the people or habits that could be impacting your frequency or sense of yourself. (did you have a cocktail, smoke a cigarette, get angry, blame someone, have an energetic exchange that felt insincere?) If you find that thoughts are begging for attention...wanting you to come up with an idea to resolve this feeling...you must stop the thoughts that are competing for your attention. You must cease thinking immediately. For the mind will continue grasping...will continue trying to understand...it will not stop. So you must stop it....and allow blank space to enter you...Allow quietude into your mind. Make it silent. And sit without drawing conclusions to fill the gaps. You must create inner spaciousness. It is a space of inconclusive being-ness, and a skillset that you can practice. And from that ground of nothing...from the absence of content, you will find a truth inside stillness. Cultivate inner spaciousness. Allow your mind to rest.
2) Don't Move, Don't Blink Before the Lessons Consolidate Inside You:
Never get off your yoga mat before you allow peace to settle into your heart and mind. We often have insights on the mat and want to jump up and implement these immediately. But letting peace filter in and knowing fully that all is well is key before we end our yoga session in savasana. Allow all the insights to sink down into every nook and cranny of your soul before you arise or open your eyes. Knowing that we are held, that we have help within the boundaries of our existence is so necessary...And deeply understanding that there is enough time. There is no shortage or lack or cause for fear when we are living in alignment. When we let serenity filter into ourselves in the corpse pose and truly welcome rest and realignment...we are cleansed through and through...our nerves, our heart, our muscles and body all realign so spontaneously and respond differently...so that the natural flow of new thoughts and fresh dreams can fill the void that you have intentionally evoked, in the creative act of inner space-making. All is done.
3) Tame Your Own Beast Within:
Others are not responsible for helping us deal with our own wild desires and untamed heart. We must do the work ourselves to find self-respect. No one is here to give you the answers to your own insoluble problems of living, being, or selfhood. Your personal "riddle of the Sphinx" is about how to be both a slave and a master to your life and how to balance the paradoxical nature of humanness and its ethical dilemmas, suffering, and indirect path to spiritual evolution. And it is no one else's fault that you are still falling victim to yourself. Finding how to soothe your own mind and spirit is a way to rededicate our path to the Great Mystery that lies behind the emergent nature of the universe and life itself. Humankind has a strong propensity for #winning born out of the ego's desire to be seen and noticed. But when these wishes and enchantments become the dominant motives behind drivenness, then the naturally occurring ebb and flow... and the balance between wins and losses becomes contaminated, and we forget how to play in the rough and tumble multiverse of which we are made.
In essence, yoga has transformed my approach to life. It has taught me the power of stillness, reminding me that taking a moment to breathe can change everything. I've learned to let insights settle before rushing into action, allowing peace to guide my choices. Most importantly, I've embraced the responsibility of taming my own desires, realizing that true growth comes from within. These lessons inspire me to embrace life’s ebb and flow and cultivate balance, joy, and authenticity every day. Let's keep growing together!
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