Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Yoga's impact on me...

please share your story on our facebook fan page discussion board. These words cannot share it all, not nearly. Yoga has led me on an incredible journey through life, love & spirit.This is a bit of my story...

Yoga has changed the course of my life quite radically. It first taught me to listen to my body. I knew a little bit about hearing my body, but because I hated it, I often punished extremely. Now I can hear everything my body says. And slowly over the years of practicing on & off the mat I've learned to tolerate, then respect, to sort of appreciate to now love my body-all thanks to a living yoga practice. I know just how to find my edge without going over, I rarely get sick at all, I feel strong & flexible, energized & peaceful. I know the tricks my mind plays on me & can separate myself from them. I know when I'm not present & can bring myself back to the moment as many times as I need to.
Even though my confidence has always oscillated from pretty strong to zero, yoga's mindfulness has allowed me to nurturing a lasting sense of respect for myself& to choose the kind of person I want to grow into. I aim to walk off the mat carrying all of the prana, grace & love that my yoga practice releases into the way I move, think, stand, breathe & love. I was always an empathetic person, but yoga has taught me to see what others experience & feel it more deeply, helping me to initiate a practice of "love thy neighbor as you love thyself". I have learned how to navigate through life with balance. I have relearned how to navigate my life by my heart. Everything I have been able to become has been because of my yoga practice, what it unlocked in me, and the journey it led me on. Yoga taught me that I had been a spiritual person all along. I learned that I need a decent amount of time alone to recharge but that the greatest happiness is always that which is shared. I've learned that I can't do everything by myself and that to do everything we can accept help when we need it & even humble ourselves to ask for it. Then we can see that pain & frustration may be part of our experiences if we like it or not but we can minimize our afflictions by depending on community and giving back. Pain will happen but suffering is optional. And perhaps most of all, mindfulness has made me a conniseur of the senses & emotions- I can delight in a variety of flavors drinking in the richness of the colors of the world, vibrations of the wild symphony of sounds around me, the feel of the sun & air like a sensual massage, the luscious scent of each season, the bitter taste of leaving my son's side & the delightfully sweet and warm & rush of love bubbling through me like an ecstatic flood when he smiles at me. I can even taste food differently- more astutely & pleasurably. I've found that life is a magical, ecstatic dream, a sacred spiritual event, a beautiful blessing to be vividly experienced with every level of being & yoga is the catalyst that opened this awareness within me.

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