My Personal Yoga

The issue is this yoga in the old Sanskrit means union, It is apt at this point to ask , union of what. The search takes me in that direction  only because the body understands what it means not to practice after it has done so a yin only knows itself because there is a yang. Why the search for union in the first place. What is this desire that drives and does this hunger have a name a definition.

Consider this extract from the tao te ching

Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub;

It is the center hole that makes it useful.

Shape clay into a vessel;

It is the space within that makes it useful.

Cut doors and windows for a room;

It is the holes which make it useful.

Therefore benefit comes from what is there;

Usefulness from what is not there.

On a personal level

When practicing the Asana’s  I attempt to focus on the breath  the feeling that comes up almost every time is the  for want of a better word the “awareness of the silence” or of emptiness will make the total being useful. Once the movements are practiced in that state.

This feeling is similar to what I get after a prayer or meditation  secession  only now the body is involved. Yet it does not answer life’s questions for you and the challenges do not cease once you get off that matt.

It is an ideal to cultivate an Equanimity that comes after years of practice, but the emotions do not get any less strong. The fear and anxiety do not go away nor the awareness of your faults and limitations, as these are the things that normally fill the silence. The only thing that changes is your attitude toward it all. That is what being on the matt teaches you. You see the stretches and twists that you put your body through, tax the body physically and as a result  mentally yet you practice by being calm within the position, having an awareness of your own breath in a state of tension. The change is subtle mostly but profound and takes time and practice to master. Like life.