A student recently told me how much yoga has changed her life. She confided that she not only feels physically better, but that she seemed to be handling so many things in her life in a calmer, more efficient manner. She told me that she was able to just let go of so many of the things that usually drove her crazy – that she would close her eyes, breathe, and just let them go.
She was preaching to the choir. I know personally how powerful yoga can be, and how it can change our lives by changing our perspective. In a hectic and unforgiving world, it is easy to let anger and resentment rise up and take control of situations. I’ve said it before –I have always had to struggle with anger.
Honestly, it feels a little silly to say that, as I have to admit that I am a lucky person. I have a good family I love, and who love me in return. I am healthy and my life has been relatively free of major tragedy. Yet at the risk of seeming ungrateful, as some have accused Liz Gilbert, the heroine of Eat Pray Love of being, I often found myself ANGRY, unsatisfied, and ungrounded. Why?
I have a theory that in our global world, the simple and wonderful things get lost. It is the failure to notice the bird in flight or the sunlight glinting off the river that allows otherwise healthy and happy people to sink into a kind of global depression. By being part of a world that is too big, we overlook all of the small miracles in front of our eyes, causing us to feel smaller, insignificant, and even angry.
Yoga allows us to look inward and observe the miracle that is each one of us, individual, special and spectacular. Through practice and meditation, we recognize the beauty in us and around us. Finding the divine in ourselves allows us to find the divine in everything. The absence of peace of mind, and peace of the heart, leads to the discontent and unhappiness that so many people suffer from in today’s world.
Yoga changed all of that for me, and I was happy to hear, for my student. I know that it cannot have that miraculous effect on everyone, but I do think that it is worth a try. If you have ever considered trying yoga, there is no time like the present. September is National Yoga Month. Yoga studios across the country (including Dancing Dogs Yoga here in Beaufort) are taking the Yoga Month Card, good for one free week of yoga for new students. You can register for and download yours at www.yogamonth.org
You can also try a variety of yoga styles and classes for free at YogaFest 2010 on September 25th and 26th at Dancing Dogs. Visit www.dancingdogsyoga.com for more information.
Namaste.
