Welcome Yogis:
A long, winding path brought us together in this moment. My yoga journey began in 2015 with a 60-day New Years challenge to do yoga for 60 consecutive days to see what happens. In the first weeks one of the things I noticed, I quit biting my nails. An old, anxious habit of decades that before would only disappear when I went on vacations. This led me to understand, something was ha
ppening on the mat and intuitively I knew something in me was transforming. In 2018, I stepped away from a stressful litigation career and moved to Mexico. There I deepened my meditation practice and worked at transforming mind and body. I listened to a lot of motivation speakers then and learned that the high achievers we see in the world work hard to become better versions of themselves. What I didn’t see coming was learning I didn’t have to accomplish anything in the external world to live a rich, meaningful life. More mediation in the West Virginia Himalayas led me to India and on New Years Eve 2020, I landed in New Delhi and traveled north to Rishikesh. The proclaimed “World Capital of Yoga”, where practitioners of TM were joined by the Beatles and many other seekers in the late 60’s and early 70’s who would go on to success in many fields, including Apple founder Steve Jobs. It was there I learned more about the science and discipline of yoga. Unfolding before like the lotus, my understanding of yoga grew as I discovered it had little to do with the asana practices we see in the West. Instead, it was a way of life for many, and it is backed by rich history philosophy of and science that serve as the root for several world religious traditions. Standing alone and apart from these traditions, is yoga – which is not religious at all. Instead, it offers a path to having transformative experiences through practices that help one unite the mind, body, and spirit within us. If one is drawn to be a seeker on this path, they will discover living their life in equanimity to the ups and downs of day-to-day life. Instead, we come to accept what is, without a need to change others and all the external circumstances around us to fit our liking. The more one resides in a state of yoga, one realizes they are witnessing observer of their experiences, with agency to direct their actions intentionally. We co-exist in cosmic space and have all the powers of being a creator, a destroyer, and a preserver. I am not a "perfect yogi” and my practice ebbs and flows at times. In the Tibetan Book of the Dead, it is observed that some people will spend their entire lives in cycles of disgust and redemption, never becoming fully liberated. We see this in our diets, in our exercise routines, in our relationship to intoxicating substances and stimulants. It’s hard to sustain an A game. Still, knowing the path and re-finding oneself on it is part of the practice. For me, I will fall into the adage, those that can do, teach for it is in sharing my practice that I grow. Having come into yoga later in life, there are things I am not physically able to do. My physical practice is Hatha yoga and breath work, or pranayama. Together they help me maintain my body and spine, and they cleanse and energize my mind and body. There are several other yoga practices recommended for modern yogis and stressed for the times we live in. Jnana yoga (self-study), bhakti yoga (devotional service) and karma yoga and refers to taking right actions internally and externally. In the West this can be seen as observing the natural law of cause and effect. Finally, there is Raja yoga, or translated the king’s yoga - meditation. Each of these has their purpose, and many gurus/guides stress the benefits of combining these practices to accelerate their spiritual growth in pursuit of enlightenment. Please know, one shouldn’t expect enlightenment, nor self-proclaim they have achieved it. If there are enlightened spiritual masters, they don’t live in our day-to-day realties. Still with an insight into what this world needed, they did intentionally release the knowledge of yoga into the world. From ancient times, the knowledge of yoga was passed on from a teacher to a student in small communities known as ashrams. This tradition continues today in India, where saddhus and devotees bathe along the banks of the Ganges daily, living mendicant lives of devotional service. It was from these communities at the turn of 20th century that yoga was intentionally shared with the West. In 1893, a spiritual master in India sent his student, Swami Vivekananda to speak at World Parliament of Religion in Chicago. His brief speech erupted in audience in applause, and from this moment yoga in the West was seeded to grow into our collective conscious. Most of us will begin our journey in yoga through the asana practice and one can stay there, only choosing to receive the physical and biochemical benefits. From there, if you discern you are spiritual seeker and want to deepen your understanding and begin to explore the philosophy and science of yoga, many master yogis have left their teachings, and offer their insights into practices along with spiritual texts that informed Buddhism, the Hinduism, Zen, and Jainism. Some even wonder a claim Christ was exposed to this wisdom. These works teach much about the nature of how our minds work, how to control our thoughts and our energies, so they can be better directed and work for you to achieve a deeper self-awareness. In short, they offer profound insights into our human experience, laying out a clear path on how to live a life to experience more joy, purpose, and satisfaction. Coupled with our recent understanding of neuroplasticity, you can easily discern that yogi’s understood this science for millenniums. I recall a quote, painted on the walls of the of the decaying ashram of the TM (Transcendental Meditation) movement and attributed to Lord Shiva, the first yogis in mythic lore, that said: “We do not see things are they are – we see things as we are”. In this digital age, a simple search on YouTube can put you in direct contact with yogi mystics in this time. A recognized master today, who is giving it away, is Sadhguru. Amassing millions of followers, he offers empowering insights to deepen your understanding of yoga and finding a connection to the spiritual aspect of our nature. Akin to Christian saints, yogis continue to emerge, speaking to this generation of seekers to connect to us to our spiritual lives. Know that yoga is not a religion, and I am not talking about a belief system. In fact, one of the most refreshing realizations about yoga is it requires no belief at all, in a divine, to experience its benefits. You just find your way to mat and practice yoga. If any of this resonates with you, sparks a curiosity or you have already found the mat, then please join me for physical asana practice, that will strengthen your body and increase your flexibility. Together we contribute our energies to each other in a mutual circle of support and acceptance to realize the benefits of yoga. Finally I will end with where I began, with my anxiety. Before yoga, I went to the hospital several times with panic attacks. At one point, anti-anxiety medications were discussed and my response to that suggestion was I needed my anxiety to let me know there was something in my life that was not working. A red flag. Once I started yoga, I never had another panic attack even though I don't make it to the mat everyday. With millions of Americans on some form of medication to adjust their chemistry, realize that an ancient practice exist and can do it in a natural way.
