If you have ever practiced with me, you know that I almost always end class with Pattabhi Jois’s words, “the practice of yoga begins now”. This is the firm reminder that the practice is not solely Asana, but rather the body, the mat and the teachings create rich metaphor and healing expression; an atmosphere of inner awareness promoting refined, cohesive and healthy outer living.
I have recently had many students comment how the gravity of this statement has made a deeper impression on their lives now more than ever. I am happy to hear as teaching the full spectrum of yoga is something I aspire to bring to the world. Though it is not as “marketable and mainstream” as the asana, conscious living is the wave of healing and union we all need. It, quite frankly in my humble opinion, is a non-negotiable necesity to the path of holistic evolution on both a micro and macro scale.
Our practice of yoga must be equally, if not more, saturated in the alignment of the mind, the alignment of the heart and the posture of life as it is in the structure of the body.
Many of us are missing our Kula and time on the mat, hungry and panicking for the beautiful escape of community posture and security with our peers and teachers. I get it, I love my physical practice too (though due to health issues, haven’t practiced in months and am both reluctantly and compassionately adapting to my new limitations….there is a life lesson in all of this). I appreciate the online capacity to carry community through times of challenge. I hear your sweet requests for classes on-line, and I will think about it…but for now, I honestly need to honor the pause and steep in my own quiet.
I trust that this time of isolation is a practice of its own. A time when we more courageously and curiously lean into the guidance from the teacher within. It is an opportunity to perhaps more fully embrace the 7 other limbs of yoga and to compliment this ancient philosophy with mindfulness and a conscious living that bears significant and transformative weight on a culture hemorrhaging with dis-ease, dysfunction, dystopian distain that can only be resolved with a genuine shift of paradigm arrived to first from within.
In simple terms….be the change. Practice all of yoga… embody yoga, live yoga, let it loose in the world like an innocent child believing in the magic of new lands and new ways!
Join your communities however you can and however you need but also visit the teachings more deeply in isolation. Explore self-study, intellectual study, sit, breathe, meditate, be present, make conscious and ethical choices in the world. Limit distraction and crystalize your unique interpretation, truth and embodiment of yoga within the studio walls of yourself.
