Yoga just is
After years of travelling a yogic path, twisting my body in crazy poses, riding a beautiful cosmic wave, breathing deeply, sitting for hours in silent stillness… and playing around with different forms of what we term as “yoga”, the ideas of what we perceive to be the “practice” to be, are shifting and changing.
Yoga just IS. It is the great union of body, breath, mind, spirit, in harmony with the Earth, the subtlest of cosmic energies, the entire Universe… and the magnificent merging of each egoic self with the Grand Divine Totality of All Life. It is ever-present within each and every one of us, comprising, guiding and surrounding each and every moment.
Who am I?
We do the sadhana: asanas, pranayama, and meditation as a preliminary “practice” to cleanse, detoxify, and strengthen the body and to clear the mind in preparation for a re-awakening into the experiential KNOWING of this union. We examine the Supreme Question, “Who am I?” to look at and witness the inner, intricate workings of the mind, all of its twists and turns and dances of ego and emotion, in order to ultimately transcend all process of thought and rest in a state of ego-less peace.
Precious essence
This moment of the awareness and experience of this “knowing” is unmistakable… that slicing through the heaviness and chaos of the egoic mind to a point where there is no thought, no mind-based identity, no time, no “me”, in order to glimpse and merge with the magnificent essence of all that is. These moments can often be triggered within the “practice” itself…like coming out of a shoulder stand and having that indescribable feeling of peace and harmony which goes beyond anything words could describe.
Holding a newborn baby for the very first time, or simply and truly realizing the absolute miracle of living within the beating of our own hearts. It is in these glimpses that we are reminded of that precious essence which is always there in every emotion, every thought, every experience. … the realization of the sacred magic of being alive. And a reminder also of the innate, precious beauty within ourselves.
The experience, awareness and deep knowing of this Grand Union as the sacred space deeper than mind and thought; this is yoga. And it is just the beginning.
Awareness
Once the “slice” in the ego is made, there is a maturing of the experience and we can rest more and more comfortably and ‘at home,’ in the space much deeper than thought, cradled in this Divine Essence. Thoughts arise still, although less and less from the egoic mind and more from a space of clarity, peace and Ultimate Truth. Thus, actions are also more aligned with this Truth, creating an awareness in our individual lives as sweet drops in the One Divine Ocean, expressing and experiencing fully and lovingly with the awareness of the essence of being alive, in all its infinite forms.
Life
This is the grace. Each breath becomes a lifetime, each experience a gift. All extremes we experience arise from the same essence: The Totality of All Life, and the more we align our awareness with this sacred dimension of being, the richer and fuller each moment seems to become. We begin to watch, experience, feel, allow, act, and react from a space deeper than the egoic mind and thought, a space of Supreme Wisdom, arising from the Totality of All Life… from the Highest form of Love.
The knowing arises that each and every moment holds the entire Universe: all we need to know and have ever known, all wrapped up in the colourful, vibrant package of NOW… in whatever form NOW takes.
And from this arises a deep, wordless gratitude. As the Earth silently thanks the Sun, so we too thank this vast Ocean of Being for the gift of each and every experience, in whatever form it is delivered.
JAI MAA!!
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