Yoga

It's been a very long week... and it is Thanksgiving... and I got blasted at work yesterday by a couple of tough cases which aren't resolved.

And all I want to do is practice yoga. All the time. Sun salutations, moon salutations, arm balances, meditation, relaxation, twists (yes! mostly twists), hip openers, standing balances... the list goes on.

And then I realized that yoga isn't just asanas/postures. I knew this. I have been told this. We learned it in class but apparently I have to really come to the realization on my own.  It is eight limbs with the meditation and postures being just two of the eight.

Why do I feel like yoga postures are what I need? Funny, that is the second limb, Niyama or self observation.

Is it because I am looking for sense withdraw (Pratyahara) or Dharana (Concentration) or do I think that it might help me attain a level of Samadhi (state of joy and peace)?

I don't even know today. All I know is that doing Camel pose where my heart and throat chakra are wide open is not pleasant and Warrior II when I am strong and Tree where I am balance and grounded with my branches low feels perfect.

Maybe it is time to move to Tibet.

Thursday Intention - Love

Image from: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/05/from-gaza-with-love-a-yoga-film-for-humanitarians-video-donna-williams/

Each morning I meditate on my intention for the day. Some mornings I lay in Savasana in my living room with toys strewn around, some mornings it is a moving meditation on a run. Thursdays I practice at a yoga studio with a great teacher. Its a hot, power yoga class and I always feel so zen afterwards.  Throughout my practice I focus on my intention. I let that intention come to me and then I feel it. If it feels forced, I acknowledge it and let it pass by and wait for the next one. If it feels easy and "right", I embrace it and focus my breath into it. I never talk about this with anyone. Not because I am embarrassed or at a loss for words or feel it doesn't need to be shared, but because words couldn't do it justice.


Throughout the day, I try and bring the energy from that intention into my body with my breath and then let it shine out, quietly. It could be patience, gratitude, calmness, harmony, peace, happiness, purpose, understanding, forgiveness, compassion, beauty, or stillness, but today without a doubt, it is LOVE. It is 7:30 am. I don't yet have an idea why it is love that stuck this morning. Love for family. Love for community. Love for ideas and passions and intentions. Love for patients. Love for the earth and, without a doubt, love for yourself. Acknowledgment of this love that flows through each of us. We all have the capacity to love, and be loved, if we allow it. For some people, love explodes out of them with every movement they make. They shine. They are vibrant, passionate beings who couldn't harness that loving energy if they tried. For others, it seems to seep out in tiny droplets and maybe, just maybe, if you brush by them on the street, one of those droplets will end up on your sleeve and you will sense it.

So today, I will think, act, and be love. I will let my intention guide my actions. No matter the circumstance, I will surround others with love. I will love myself, all of myself, both gifts and perceived imperfections. I will hope that someone will feel a small piece of that and share it with someone else, allowing the ripple effect to continue.

Your intention today does not have to be Love. It could be anything but it should be something. It is up to us to make the world a better place. Just think what could happen! It would be simply amazing.