Living the Practice

  Lately I have felt the need to live my practice alot more. I have been on the Yoga path for a long time, and it has been a slow path for me. I teach, I practice, I love, and I continue to study. Its been this way for many years, always growing and growing.
  But lately, its taken on a new path. A path where I find less of a need for past enjoyments, and more of a need for my Yoga practice. I find that when I am driving from one class to another,  I want to listen to Kirtan, or music that expresses Love. I feel the need for more Mantra, more meaning to the practice. I find the need to expand my teachings beyond what I already know. Its constant, and incessive. I've branched out in so many different modalities of Yoga, that I feel that I am not rigged in my teachings any longer. The funny thing, is that I never thought of myself as rigid in my teachings before, but the more I expand, the more i realized I was. Crazy, huh? Ive taken on new approaches, embraced areas of my teachings that I didnt really enjoy before.
  What does all of this mean? This new growth? Well, I'm sure it means different things to different people, and I know each of us would have thier own opinion and experience of this view. But for me, I feel like I am breaking out of a shell that was keeping me sheltered, because at the time I needed that shelter. But not anymore, the shelter is no longer need and I am soaring into a new life, a life that I have been asking for, but was never ready for. I see that now. I see that I am still not ready for some of my wants, some of my dreams. But, I know that if I keep the path, if I stick to the work that it will come. Exactly when its supposed to come. Because that is the beauty of this practice. Do the work! and your dreams will come true. But what you may be surprised to find out, is when you do the work, you may find that your dreams change, and thats ok. Because in reality, you are still working towards what you want.
  With this new light in my life, I feel a lot more freedom. I feel a new sense of relief from what was holding me down. Have you ever seen the movie "Eat, Pray, Love"? In the movie Julie Roberts talks about how everyone has a word that fits them, a word that describes them as a whole. They gave a word to Cities, and various other things. I believe that at times we all have a word that describes where we are. I think those words change as our lives change. My word was balance, I was always trying to find balance in my life. I found success in that, and its still a part of me. But my word now in the forefront of my life is Work. Whats your word?

What we need vs what we want

Have you ever seen the animated movie classic by Disney called "the Princess and the Frog"? I'm sure you've heard of the tale, right? A woman kisses a frog to turn him back into a Prince. This particular movie has a great message to go along with the tale. This movie is based in New Orleans where a spoiled Prince Naveen goes to marry a rich eligible woman, Charlotte La Bouff,

because his parents cut him off from their riches, in order to teach him to grow up. In the process his gets himself tangled up with a voodoo man, who casts a spell on him, and turns him into a frog. He shows up at Charlotte's house who is having a mascarde party for Mardi Gras, and kisses who he thinks is a princess to break the spell. Turns out its a poor hard working woman named Tiana who was dressed up at the party. In the process of the kiss, Tiana gets turned into a frog. In order to break the spell they try and reach a good voodoo woman named mama Odie, deep in the bayou.
 
The trip to mama Odies, gives each of them a chance to get to know the other. It turns out that Prince Naveen is completely incapable of doing anything for himself, and only wants to have fun. No responsibility exists in his world. Tiana is hard working with 3 jobs and is saving up money to open a restaurant which was her daddy's dream, as well as her own. She has never taken the time to have fun.

When they arrive at mama Odie's house, she enlightens them with a lesson on knowing the difference between what they want and what they need. They of course want to be turned back to human, right? But along the way the two frogs get to know each other and mama Odie shows Prince Naveen what he really needs...LOVE...and for him that means something more than himself. Mama Odie attempts to show Tiana that life isnt all about hard work, but that you need balance as well... LOVE.

Now what does this have to do with yoga? Do you have it? Yes, balance & perception. Yes, in this movie both of the main characters leaned very strongly in one direction, a life completely out of balance. They had their eye on the prize, and nothing else existed (perception). Though the prize may be great, can you see where it was unbalanced? Even the hard working Tiana, who had great intentions of opening a business and becoming successful, had her imbalance. What is success without Love? Prince Naveen was all about fun, and though its great to know how to have fun, and find our playful side, you wont find happiness in just fun.

Next time you have your eye on the prize, ask yourself, is this where all of my attention needs to be? Am I forgetting anything else along the way? Is it about the path that I am on or the prize at the end? Yoga teaches us that the practice is more important the goal. Which is why we dont go to our goal yoga we go to practice yoga. Enjoy!

Love & Light,
Kris

Readings from today's class

"Imagine two hands, one open and offering, the other clenched in a fist of resistance.

Which hand do you put forward most?

Do you hold out both hands in equal measure?

Do you allow yourself to receive as much as you give?

Do you overhelp, then resent it?

Where does your responsibility end and that of others begin?

Have you found a balance in your life?"

The life you were born to live: A guide to finding your Life's Purpose by Dan Millman

"Hiroko somehow managed to raise three young children, work part time, and also volunteer as combination secretary, vice president, and treasurer of her neighborhood association. She wrote the neighborhood bulletin, invited speakers, and cooked for and helped organize block parties. Whenever neighbors needed information or assistance, they would call Hiroko, who had a bad case of over-cooperation. (People rarely complain about someone who gives too much.) One memorable weekend when two of her children were ill, it seemed that everyone in Hiroko's world needed help with something. She finally snapped, and she was forced to recognize her general state of imbalance. She told her older child he would have to help take care of the two younger ones for the next few days, something she wouldn't have dreamed of before; she called some neighbors and started to delegate responsibility; and she called all of the other people who had made requests of her, took a deep breath and said no. To her surprise, the sky didn't fall; the Earth, and the neighborhood, went on spinning. Hiroko learned that in resigning as "general manager of the universe," she not only found her balance and retained her health, she also served others by empowering them to take their fair share of responsibility.


The life you were born to live: A guide to finding your Life's Purpose by Dan Millman