Photos via Pinterest and Yoga Dudes.
In this moment, can you release expectation?
“Yoga teaches us to cure what needs not be endured and endure what
cannot be cured.”
~B.K.S. Iyengar
Be curious about the present. Instead of dwelling on the way your body, mind, heart and
spirit felt yesterday or an hour ago, sit with where you are now.
Perhaps you’ve tried a challenging posture (like an arm balance or an inversion) a hundred times. Perhaps every one of those times you fell out. Today, you are ready. Your body moves into the pose effortlessly. Or your mind releases resistance to the teacher’s words. Instead of trying to control, you relax and let go.
According to Ram Dass, “[The] distortion comes from defining ourselves in terms of doing instead of being. But behind all the doings, all the roles, you just are – pure awareness, pure consciousness, pure energy. When you reside fully in the present moment, you are outside of time and space.”
Trungpa Rinpoche notes, “Our lives awaken through ordinary magic.” It’s in everyday things that the miraculous happens. If we practice being here now, we develop the sensitivity to perceive and appreciate the daily miracles of our lives.”
Forget what you think you know. Learn to be OK with not knowing what will happen when you try. Be open to possibility, receptive to what is. Just BE.
You may surprise yourself.
“Yoga is not about self-improvement, it’s about self-acceptance.”
~Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
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About the Author:
Rachel Stroud is a yoga blogger at Alive in the Fire. She is a passionate vinyasa, Dharma, Bhakti and yin practitioner, and is currently completing her 200 hour vinyasa teacher training at Leap Yoga.