I just came from an incredible weekend and glimpse into a yoga teacher training with Philip Urso from Live Love Teach. It was truly enlightening; a mind opening experience. So many lessons and teachings of yoga can guide you throughout your life. Yoga is constantly transforming the lives of others. People come to yoga and may be surprised by what they leave with; peace and a sense of calm. There are over 500 different types of yoga, 500!...Hard to imagine. The type of yoga I practice, vinyasa, which in simplist terms is known as flow. I love this type of yoga. Twisting, sweating, detoxing and focusing my breath through the flow of the poses leaves me utterly relaxed and present in the moment in my final state of shavasana, or resting pose.
We can choose the path of joy (true joy, utter joy) or the other path in life. Constantly we judge others, we react, we assume. What if you spent all of the time you spend constantly thinking and worrying about the future and focused all of that energy feeling joy and feeling love? What if you laughed instead of yelled? What do you have to lose? Does thinking about the past and worrying about the future create any positive outcome? No, it does nothing. It fills up space in your head and time in your life.
We talked a lot about the ego. There are many writings and extensive research done on this topic. A simple break down of the ego: The ego constantly lives back and forth in the past & the future. The ego is all of those thoughts flooding your head worrying about the future, thinking about the past and back and forth and back and forth. So many of us live paralyzed in our minds, afraid, handicapped by fear. The ego does not back down. The ego is strong and stubborn but there is a way to quiet the ego, to quiet your mind. This is done through meditation, through breath, and through awareness. When you are in the present and you have 100% of your focus on your breath this can be achieved. This special kind of breath is known as ujjayi breathing, or ocean breath with a deep inhalation and exhalation in and out of your nose, you can live in the present moment. If you concentrate on your breath for a few moments, you will begin to notice, with time and practice, the ego is not present.
How do you take this with you through your daily life? Instead of feeling the anxiety and depression that many people suffer with, practicing breath awareness can center your focus and relax the mind. Try practicing this in a stressful situation or if you are nervous right before an interview. They always tell you to take deep breaths, well its true. But these are the deepest kind of breaths, ujjayi breaths. Do this when you find yourself sifting through your thoughts of frustration about what will be or what is going to happen next, because we don't actually know. We are not in the past, nor are we in the future. We are here now. Practice your ability to LOVE and you will experience joy.
