Meditations From The Mat- Day 135

Again I found today's read too moving not to share with you. This is an exert from the book by Rolf Gates. :

'Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and rightdoing, there is a field. Meet me there. - Rumi

Over the millennia, yoga has traveled between two opposing views of spiritual practice. In one view, the world is flawed, and the individual, an aspect of a flawed world, is flawed- and yoga practice is meant to transcend our flawed nature. In the other, everything is OK- and our practice is meant to remove our blocks to seeing this truth. Now, this may seem like semantics, but in fact nothing could be more important to sort out before beginning a serious spiritual practice.

I am of the mind that everything is already OK. For me, the sutras are an arrow pointing to the divinity within all of us. It is a given that in asana practice we do no disavow any aspect of our experience or our physicality. Rather, we progressively embrace what is real for us, so that we may find health and harmony. Why would this not also be true concerning every other aspect of ourselves? As you go deeper into the sutras, spending time with superlatives and ideals, remember that you are doing this study in order to remember yourself, to come home to all of 'you' (italic). Only after we get beyond ideas of right and wrong can we truly begin the practice of yoga.'

posted from Bloggeroid

Meditations from the Mat

As i have mentioned before in a previous post, Meditations from the Mat is my daily read book by yoga instructor Rolf Gates. Today is day 73 and the following is today's passage that I thought was very perfectly worded and just right for you all today:

Day 73

Lack of true knowledge is the source of all pains and sorrow. - Yoga Sutras

As we apply the principles of yoga, a profound understanding begins to resonate in our lives. we come to understand that the anxiety we feel, the suffering we experience, comes from not practicing yoga in the true sense of the word. Even the most tentative attempt at living our yoga produces immediate positive results. Bit by bit, we realize that we have been acting on misinformation and that our strategies to end or lessen our suffering have actually intensified the pain.

Who among us has not lied to avoid suffering, only to have the lie increase her suffering tenfold? who among us has eaten a pint of Ben and jerry's in hope of feeling better for a moment, only to spend hours in regret? Who among us has not spent months or years believing that when this or that finally happens, we'll be content, only to find that the contentment we seek is somehow beyond our grasp? There is no end to these predicaments - until we adopt a new plan, a new paradigm, a new way of thinking. Yoga offers us a new plan. In truth, it is a very old plan, and it encompasses the only plan that has ever worked. You don't need to embrace the whole plan to gain from it, nor do you have to believe in every aspect of the plan for it to work. But if lack of true knowledge is the problem, then openness to new information must lead to the solution. All you need is the willingness to make a beginning, to turn yoga from theory into action.

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Back to my voice:

Just felt like adding a reminder and some thoughts about yoga-

-Doubt your doubts

-Accept where you are today

-Yoga is about self acceptance, not self improvement.

-Remember yoga is a journey, not a destination.

-Often times we NEED yoga the most, when we WANT it the least.

-Let go of competetion and comparison.

-Recognize that less is more.

-Allow resistance to melt away.

-Let go of expectation and limitations.

-Recognize that each day is different.

-Continuous practice, not just for one or two days. We are practicing all the time. (Means always practice love and nonattachment and selflessness. See others in yourself and yourself in others, let go of judgement and complaint and upset... always practice Letting Go!)

Most importantly:

-Be sure to have fun.

-Always be yourself.