Hari Ohm dearest yoga students 

 

Hoping this email finds you well and experiencing some aspect of your ability to maintain equanimity in your life. It is important to remember that Yoga is really just a state of mind.  Asana (postures) practice was developed to allow the body and mind to be receptive to the experience of stillness so that we may catch glimses of our true nature that lies just underneath the vritti’s (disturbances of the mind).  Postures, breath work and meditation are just the vehicles that are used to focus and still the chatter in the mind which leads to clarity of thought, peace and balance in our lives.

 

 

You can do yoga wherever you are and whatever you are doing.  Attaining one pointed focus (pratyahara)  while making a meal, playing with your child or taking a walk are all states of yoga, even if only for brief moments in time. When we are truly present we calm the fluctuations of the mind by being in the moment instead of getting caught up in the “monkey mind” that jumps from thought to thought, from fear to fear, from judgement to judgement.   Try riding the wave of the breath anytime your mind takes you into its tangled web of thought.   Work towards being present in whatever you engage in today, giving it your complete attention.  By focusing on the task or activity at hand, you may just discover true peace of mind or your “yoga” in all you do.