Friday, November 19, 2010

Natural Yogis

Many people have shared with me over the years ways in which their draw to yoga and meditation was foreshadowed, especially in childhood.
I recall watching cartoons in my own special version of headstand, using the center of the couch, with my feet on the wall. I also had a great shoulderstand/fish variation: legs up the wall, back on the couch cushion and head hanging just over the edge of the cushion. during a few Summers, us kids tried to perfect handstand in the pool. I hear stories of similar "accidental" yoga poses all the time.
Many also have similar stories of meditative awareness arising in odd places, entering into a flow state while working in a fast-food drive thru, for example. Slipping into a meditative flow while cleaning the house or cooking is actually pretty common.
Babies naturally move into mudra-asanas. Young ones move into variations bound angle, tree, bridge, double-leg stretch & of course happy baby. Older babies find upward facing dog, down dog, cross-legged pose, chair and more.
The truth is that yoga, that is to say union with the present moment, is a natural state of being. Yoga is universal. Yoga is what we are, without all of the man-made stress & pretense. Yoga is what nature is in all her perfection.
Poses in yoga practice are ways of directing the flow of energy to bring health to the body, relax the mind and remove obstacles in the way of our natural state of yoga. They naturally feel good, so its not surprizing that children find them the way they do.
Present moment awareness is access to the depth of Life. The more we are present, the more we strengthen our ability to be present. It's no wonder that once we engage in regular yoga practice our mind begins to connect all of the instances where we touched that state of being.
Yoga is our natural state of being. The present moment is our home. We are all born as natural yogis.

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