Articles

Spring/Summer 2005 Newsletter

Welcome to our first Moving Mantra Yoga Newsletter! It is my intention to offer you a deeper understanding of Yoga through this publication. I encourage you to begin a dialogue with yourself about what your Yoga practice means to you, to ask questions and share your feedback with me as well. I hope these writings and reflections will inspire you to go deeper in to your self and to make a commitment to your practice and in all aspects of being.

First Steps

Who are you? What inspires you to bring Yoga in to your life? What is your purpose? Are there things you wish to do in your life but aren't? Why? Are you waiting for some landmark event or catastrophe to beginning living fully? The past is gone. the future is yet to arrive and offers no guarantee. What we have is here and now. Our lives are continually unfolding, moment by moment. Yoga offers us a beautiful blueprint for living a heart-centered life in the present. In embracing this ancient, complete system for living, we can learn to relish just what is.our bodies just as they are, perfectly unique and wondrous, our minds, vast and curious, our spirits, infinite, light and expansive. We can begin to trust and relax in the process of being with the unknown, of receiving life's challenges and gifts without knee-jerk responding and attempting to control outcomes. We can learn to let go of our ego identities and allow for our true natures to express themselves in their many dimensions without fear, knowing that we are perfectly human, amazingly complete with all our talents, gifts, imperfections and flaws. Life is our precious gift, our context for learning the lessons which allow us to grow and change and evolve. In our fast-paced, materially-oriented, goal-obsessed civilization, it is easy to forget that we are more than our job titles, more than our accomplishments, more than our physical bodies. Yoga gives us the chance to remember who we are at our essence, to loosen our grip on the striving and straining towards something other than what is. Yoga can provide us with the opportunity to practice acceptance, to release judgment and fear; first with ourselves and then with the world around us and the people who we meet along life's path.

Perhaps you are brand new to Yoga and are wondering what doing a bunch of pretzel-like poses may have to do with inner development. In the West, the perception of Yoga has become a bit skewed. If we were to rely on the covers of slick magazines, Hollywood hype or the television to define Yoga, one might conclude that Yoga is just the latest exercise craze that holds promise of the ever-elusive 'perfect' bottom or belly. And indeed there is no shortage of teachers and classes who represent Yoga in the limited capacity of a physical practice, of contemporary interpretations of Yoga practice and modern gurus who claim to have the perfect sequence or approach to practice. While it is true that Hatha Yoga is in fact a body-centered practice, the body of knowledge Yoga holds is vast and all-encompassing. This is an ancient system, not a new craze. The tradition has many facets, and the physical aspects of practice are just one component of a complete system for well being and growth, inner and outer. The intention of Yoga is not to reinforce an over-identification with our physical bodies, but, in fact, to free us from that obsession and guide us into a more peaceful place of acceptance with whom we are.

One of the first steps in bringing Yoga in to our lives is to recognize what is true for us. Perhaps you struggle with apprehension, doubting what your body can do, fixed on the notion that you are too much of this or not enough of that. Yoga invites us to come as we are, to honor just what is in the moment, and move from a place of relaxed awareness and receiving.receiving the breath, receiving the earth, receiving the Love and Joy that is ever-present. From this place, our practice can be authentic, reflective, nourishing, and free from the struggle to be other than who we are. Here we can enjoy the progressive physical, mental and spiritual benefits that unravel the tension in our bodies, soften our hearts, relax our busy minds and invite us to trust the art of simply being. There will be times when this unwinding of the body and mind seems elusive; such is the nature of life and practice. Yoga is a way of life, not a quick fix. So I invite you to step in to life and share the Joy of Yoga..no pre-requisites necessary.just as you are.