Asana Is An Invitation To Arrive

There is nothing comfortable about life. Pain and suffering follow us around wherever we go. Even when we get everything we want, there is somehow an underlying hunger for something more, something easier or better. This is the nature of desire, and it keeps us just uncomfortable enough to continue moving forward.

The desire to grow, discover, travel, and transform - this is what fuels our life. This is what allows us to connect with each other and to expand beyond our own limitations. But when we are constantly in pursuit, climbing, searching, and longing to be or do something different, then we are depriving ourselves of our true nature.

When we live on-the-go all day, every day, we are essentially sending signals to the brain and body that we are unsatisfied, which only creates more tension and turbulence. Despite growing rates of hypertension, stress-related disease, and mental illness, this is not the truth of human existence. It is only a distraction from the undisturbed nature that resides within.

The physical postures in Yoga are called Asanas. They are an opportunity and active invitation to arrive within our true, pure nature.

Asana is a Sanskrit word that is often translated as “comfortable seat.” But remember - there is nothing really comfortable about life, and nothing particularly comfortable about sitting. A more truthful and comprehensive translation of Asana is “a physical seat that cultivates steadiness and ease.”

When we practice Asana, we put our bodies into physical positions that build friction. The goal is to bring our awareness to the parts of our experience that are uncomfortable - be it feelings of lack, overwhelm, or indifference. In this practice, we become more familiar with our own causes of resistance and actions that bring relief. But ultimately, none of this can happen if we are not willing to show up and to be present with whatever arises.

In every single Yoga class that I teach, I begin by asking my students to arrive. To arrive in the space, in their body, and in their seat. This might sound like a simple request, but arriving is perhaps the most elusive and fleeting sensation.

Can you recall the last time you arrived home after traveling? Do you remember that feeling of a long exhale, the feeling of spaciousness and satisfaction in your body and mind? How long did you let that feeling last - before you began unpacking your bags, cleaning the kitchen, checking email, and preparing for the next day of work or school? Many of us are so well versed in the habits of busy-ness and productivity that when we do experience the feeling of arrival, its only momentary.

But when we fully, wholeheartedly arrive, we take one step closer towards becoming more of who we want to be.

Arriving is an act of acceptance. When we allow ourselves to exist exactly where we are - when we show up and stay present - we accept authority over our own experience. And when we claim ownership of our own lives, we are no longer ruled by avoidance, denial, and attachment. Instead, we have the power to slow down each moment, to soak up the sweetness of this life, and to burn away the impurities that mask our true nature.

Asana keeps me real. It keeps me grounded. Practicing Asana invites me to see my desires more clearly, understand my own motivations, and embrace the current path that I am on. And somehow, learning how to arrive is the only way I know how to keep moving forward.

--

To learn more about Maria click here to check out her website! 

The Call Has Come

We live in hard times. In one big sweep, all of the veils that we have been hiding behind have been lifted.  Many among us are left staring down the barrel of our own denial.  We have been waiting for things to change, to take their course, and now they have.  But for an undeniable portion of the population, the change was a brutal blow.  Where I live in Northern California, the actual outcome was spoken of as an impossibility and now there are masses of broken hearted, afraid, angry people compelled to ACT.

Social media is overflowing with suggestions about ways to get involved.  Write letters, make phone calls, MARCH.  Yes!  Stand up, claim the right to be here, to have a voice, to fight for what you desire, but there is more to it than that.  In order for this work to have a deep and lasting impact on the current reality in which we live, we MUST be doing the same work inside of ourselves.

Stop what you are doing and close your eyes.

 

Call up all of the characteristics about yourself that you loathe: desperation, sadness, loneliness, fear, worry.  Stay there.  Look at what you push away, look at what makes you cringe about yourself.  Look at your hidden, shameful pieces. Look them all straight in the eye.  This is the only way.  We can’t keep turning away from what is rumbling under the surface, screaming to be seen.  We can’t expect others to change if we are unwilling to change ourselves. We can’t stay ignorant or in denial of our own unlovable parts, yet expect the world to transform into a more loving and accepting place. If we cannot see our disapproval of others as pieces of ourselves, nothing will ever change.

The philosophy of Tantra teaches that what is within us is manifested in the world.  The most advanced Yoga Practice is owning and assimilating ALL pieces of ourselves into an integrated whole. Even the things we want to forget, we accept, and that is the most IMPACTFUL work we can do.  As we assimilate and integrate our shadows, we will also step more and more into the ownership of our GREATNESS.  We will more willingly see what we have to offer, what is loving and loveable about ourselves.  When we do the work of understanding ourselves, then we can move out into the world with the ability and skill to understand others, really.  

Judgements and separation exist in the world, because they first exist inside.  If we can move toward internal non-judgement and unity, then our outer world will start to reflect our internal state. So we MUST, start doing the work.  The practices of yoga, meditation, and self reflection are more important now than ever.  It is NOT selfish to take the time, it is the most powerful thing we can do for the world.  What if the willingness to do your internal work was what you gave the world?  

Start wherever you are.  Whether it’s asana, running, journaling or making art.  Prioritize your internal work as PARAMOUNT.  Going to an asana class can be the first step in making radical revolutionary change in the world if you are willing to show up fully.  We are all being called to ACTION.  Don’t forget that the call is as much an internal one as an external one.  As you show up for the protests, call the congressmen, write the letters, show up equally for yourself.  YOUR practice, whatever it is, will make all of the difference.