Namaste!
This month, I am brought to a place and opportunity to see myself, my beliefs and intentions in another light. From others eyes yet, again in a new fresh way! The old me would have been horrified to experience this, to even behold and know what others thought of me. But yoga has so graciously offered me the opportunity to see things as they are through my own eyes and the eyes of others.
We are all connected, someway, somehow, and how we got here is still yet to be a mystery. Science has its “theories”, religions have their take and probably many more than I can even consume in one sitting of information on. Regardless of how we got here, why we are here and who or what keeps us here, ultimately, all of “this” here on this Earth is something to be experienced, taken in and both enjoyed and learned from.
From dead-ends to a personal connection with the world
Some say that it was in my blood to become an addict, to struggle at some time in my life from depression, because my past family has had that struggle. Maybe I did fall into that cut-out, or maybe it was just how the cards fell, unrelated to my family and their DNA. But what I know was no mistake or coincidence was that yoga found me. And the kind of yoga that sought me out were exactly the kind of yoga that I needed to move forward from the DNA dead-end, from the continuous circles of nowhere-ness that was once my life.
Yoga allowed me to shape and mold my own beliefs and values based on what the world could and has offered me; my limitless potential that I have been shown. The “union” that yoga has so kindly offered me, with myself, with my family, and Copper Tree, and the known and unknown world that surrounds me is priceless. What I come across again and again is that as much as we try to “know” this mystery, put science to it (even yoga) – some things will never be able to be explained. For me, I would hope it to always stay that way.
A simple connection
I find myself constantly reading, researching and studying and all this information is wonderful and amazing. However, none of this has ever yet to outweigh my own personal practice on my mat, and the integration of myself into this world that surrounds me. In the last 6 months (probably more), evaluations and criticisms of all kinds surround the yoga community, both at large and in-house. I have had now many opportunities to sit and meditate and reflect on these questions and remarks to find myself coming back to the same answer again and again. “WE ARE ALL ONE”, whether we come from one maker or that we are simply one existence – isn’t it in the end really the same thing? In yoga, we use the word “ATMAN” which means Brahman which means “universal consciousness” or “God”. Funny to me how those two definitions can be used interchangeably in a text older than the dirt your house was built on, yet we can’t seem to grasp the simplicity of the connection. We as educated peoples know almost too much and we miss the entire point.
Grow, experience life, and discover your self with yoga
What I hope for all those who have an opportunity to know yoga and those that choose to come through Copper Tree’s doors, is an opportunity to discover something within themselves that they may not have known before. Grown somehow, found the ability to get off the high horse and step into the rawness of life – where you don’t need to know the answer. And there is no separateness. We can all just “be” regardless of language, culture, beliefs.
Yoga may not be a religion; however, it is a lifestyle and in part a belief in something greater than ourselves – whatever that may be. Don’t let simple words get in your way of experiencing something quite amazing… Yourself.
And as a yoga teacher and a student of life I am simply sharing what I have been so graciously been given…
Om Shanit!
Hope