When most speak of yoga, they mean the postures or physical exercise aspect of yoga, and that is perfectly acceptable. We all start where we resonate, depending on our ‘why’.
Yoga is a journey of spiritual evolution, designed to develop focus and concentration as a means of getting you out of your own way, letting your thoughts take a backseat in driving your life.
The physical aspect of yoga is a beginning process of seeing your story and developing the mindset to focus first on your body in movement, then on your breath in movement, then on a mantra or visual aid or relaxed breath, and then on nothing. This is the journey to meditation. This is the journey to creating strength of mind, for peace of mind. Focusing on your body for 75 minutes without distraction is the starting point, because then, you can be accountable minute by minute for how you are choosing to use your mind, when you are busy in life.
You can learn to identify the unreal storylines, you start to get a sense of what is beneath or within or everywhere where story isn’t. We are all connected into stories that define our body, mind, emotions and breath – through yoga, we can start to extricate ourselves from the stress and chaos we experience as a result of the stories, (this is the yoga skill of discernment) to connect with Source/Bliss/Godhead/Spirit/the Universe, or higher Self.
Being able to do these poses indicates hours of time spent in search of Spirit, or the inner Dance. It is time spent stepping out of the story – the drama that our personalities create – and into a nervous system intelligence. It is time spent in prayer, through the body. It is a time of mastery – not just the body, but the human condition.
Yoga is mastery of Self. If we consider the body only as Self, then we master the body, if we consider the mind only as Self, we master the mind, if we consider our emotions as Self, we master the emotions – wherever we place value, our value, is the place we invest our mastery into. Then we expand into the other areas of ourselves, the blind spots or attachment areas. Until all the areas of our embodiment are mastered (union of self), and instead of being good at our outer skills, we become better at Being.
For me, the question is always, what if…. to experience the inner and outer worlds and to play in both – what if I invest here (body, mind, emotions or Spirit) and see what happens….
Where are you at in your mastery? Where is your focus?
Yoga is a system of focusing you. Have you grabbed its purpose to be in yoga on purpose, for your mastery of Self?
This is not a rhetorical question: please be in touch, let’s discuss where you are focused on mastery, and we can work together to use the tools available to help you on that journey.