Threnody to who we used to be and who we are to become.

Being a Yoga teacher...being a Yogi, we are asked to work with the ebbs and flows of our life and our practice. There are phases where we feel incredibly inspired by the stories of our lives, phases where we become fascinated by the mechanics of the body, where we are enthralled by the breath, and so forth. It's always changing and it's up to us to work with it, rather than fighting it, we must accept. I've seem to have found myself in a phase where the physical Asana is the highlight of my practice, of my teaching. I've been wrapped up in seamless sequencing, that is not only challenging, however, also inspires the student to try new variations and poses, with an extremely open, and willing body. This is a huge shift for me, because up until recently, I have chosen to immerse myself within the stories of Hinduism and mythology, and use that as a guide for my themes, woven in to not only empower my students, but also prove that we are truly not alone in all of this noise. Because of this sudden shift, I have mistakenly labeled it an 'uninspired' phase, yet when I begin to think a little deeper about what's going on, it's not the fact that I am uninspired, I'm constantly inspired, however, my inspireation has shifted, to the body, to the curves, and edges of our body. How we flow, how we move, how we take up space, which in the end is how we heal.

Coming out of a recent injury re-rehabilitation, I, for once, feel like I am working with my body, as a partner, once again. Finding strength in a consistent practice and not resisting the practice, which I can do from time to time. So, naturally, I have found myself playing with different transitions, with new postures, with focusing on my sequence first, and lesson second...at times, finding a somewhat damper in my creative process in creating inspirational words and anecdotes. So, rather than getting upset with myself, how can I begin to shift my creative process, to change my expectations for myself? Life is a constant lesson in evolution, we must be willing to move with what our environment is leading us to, to the song our heart is singing. It's not wrong, it's not right...it just is.

Regardless of what your gym, or online articles tell you, Asana is not 'Yoga', or at least, not the only element of Yoga. The Asana (postures and movements) are just a small, minute part of the history and philosophy of Yoga. To be exact, it's the 3rd Limb of Patanjali's 8-Limbed Yogic path. Which when you  break it down to it's bones, are the tools, and ways, in which we can live an intentional life, with integrity, breaking down the barriers of our Ego and body, to eventually lead us to utter self-acceptance, and transformation. Without breath, without discipline, without study, without integrity, without focus, without removal of our senses, it's just moving, it's just 'exercise'. Yet, the postures can be one of the greatest and most powerful ways we connect to ourselves, for some of us, it's the only way we start to become aware of the bones and muscles that make up our wonderful bodies. With awareness, comes change, and enlightenment. So, therefore, it's so important that we do not shun this oh so essential element of Yoga and our Yoga practice.

Without attachment to the results, we begin to let go, we begin to trust the direction of life is being blown in and the path the leaves decide to follow.  Which, for me, and I'm more than sure, for a lot of you, is not the easiest part of life. Trusting what you cannot see and being open to things shifting with the snap of a finger? It's probably the most important lesson we can learn in life.

The Bhagavad Gita says: "The person whose mind is always free from attachment, who has subdued the mind and senses, and who is free from desires, attains the supreme perfection of freedom.'

I don't know about you, but Yoga for me is that freedom, at least more of the time. So while we do spend quite a bit of time on our mat practicing our Asana and the wonders of our bodies, the real work comes off our mat, when we take what we've learned from class into our lives, starting with the smallest conversations, the largest decisions, how we treat our bodies, and our ability to just keep our shit together. Once we free ourselves from what or how we think things should be, then we become free, and allow the natural flow of life to keep us alive and beyond grateful.

I am so, so grateful.

Are you?

Are you open to the steady flow and constant change of life?

The time is now, all you need to do is to start small and to trust.