Practice

Throughout my teacher training, both with Kripalu and Yoga Impact, maintaining our personal practice is required. It made sense that I keep up so I can physically demonstrate the poses that I teach. What I have discovered through my practice is much more profound.

There are times when I do sun salutations first thing in the morning just to get them over with. A check on my to-do list. Sometimes the whiny child in me begins to surface "I don't wanna practice." I breathe my arms up, and move through the sequence with my breath. I notice what is tight, what needs to be opened. I breathe and move gently in these spaces. When my practice is complete, I sit in meditation.

I have also come to the mat with my hands over my heart, with no thought of what will happen next. I practice the poses that are most challenging for me. I practice gentle watery movements to free any stiffness or tension. I memorize sequences and how they feel in my body. Whatever form my practice takes that day, it is always a practice of mindfulness.

I study teachings of yoga, science, philosophy and religion with fascination. I can read a passage, then months later, it's like I've never read it before. I find gold everywhere I look, and then I turn around and find it again.

When I practice yoga, there is gold. My mind and body calm, and I am clearer in my thinking and activity. It clears the distractions, negativity and the untruths that I have learned to believe about myself. My yoga practice goes deeper because it's not being told to me, it's being experienced. When I press my palms together in front of my heart, I offer love to all the parts of who I am. Even the parts that are harder to accept. When I raise my arms overhead, joy is present. When I stand strong in a warrior pose, the shy wallflower within me is transformed.

In "Living Buddha, Living Christ" Thich Nhat Hanh explores the teachings and practices of two people who lived on the earth thousands of years ago. Though culturally expressed differently, each practice brought their followers to that place of divine peace; whether it be called Nirvana or Kingdom of God. He further emphasizes that practice is necessary even when that peace has been reached. If the practice is discarded, all that was discovered becomes an array of concepts and ideas. What is touched upon in our practice is alive, it is the essence of our being that gets lost in our busy-ness.

I discovered the song "I Am What I Am" sung by Aykanna. The lyrics are simple and repetitive. "I am what I am. And that's alright." For reasons beyond my understanding, I was drawn to share this song with my very musical granddaughter.

The next day, I went to my beloved teacher's yoga class. She talked about the yoga practice burning away all the stuff that doesn't belong to you to get you back to who you truly are, which is pure bliss. You are already fine just as you are, yoga is just a way to see that.

I closed my eyes in reverence to the connection I just experienced. I felt tears fall as my practice had already begun.