Trusting In The Rivers Destination.

I find it entertaining to watch myself when life gets a little uncomfortable. Here I am living a spiritual life and on a path of yoga (union with all that is), and yet when the road gets bumpy- how quickly am I to complain. I think we can all relate to these types of moments in our lives where we choose negative thoughts over finding the gratitude in a situation. If you’re living an “alternative” life style you most likely have the whole Manifestation language down, so when things are not going your way you must be projecting wrong or in desperate need of a new vision board.

Please don’t get me wrong, I believe in all of that stuff as well, but at what point in all of our projecting and manifesting do we just try to enjoy wherever we are, the challenges and all!?!

If you want to live a happy, safe, comfortable life then you better dig a rabbit hole and move in. Why do we often forget how much we grow and evolve from our heartbreaks or loss of money or jobs? When we look back on our lives and see the leaps and bounds we took because of the discomfort why do we forget that this current situation of discomfort might bring us those same opportunities to grow and expand.

Let us stop complaining and just go with it… As a great Hopi elder once said, “let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep your eyes open and head above water, know that the river has its destination. At this time in history we are to take nothing personally, least of all our selves! For the moment we do our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.”

Keep your life light and flowing… Enjoy, embrace and love the challenge and discomfort- if you can do that you will go farther then you ever knew was possible.

The Mat is only the beginning...

 I went with my mother to be filmed for a Turkish TV show. On the way there we got in to a discussion about yoga and how it can help people and change their lives. Along with us was a dear friend who is also a Kundalini yoga teacher and life coach. It was interesting to see all of our different viewpoints on the subject. All three of us are yoga teachers and have a deep love for Kundalini yoga but our discussion was about understandings the power and ability yoga alone has to change someone’s life.
 
My mom having been living and practicing Kundialin 40 years and having had Yogi Bhajan as her teacher comes from a deep place and understanding of the Divine and the power of having Grace come into your life and help you when you ask for it. She believes that when one comes to a point in their life when they need help to see the light, Grace comes in and shows the path. For everyone the path can be different, for her it was Kudalinin yoga. She also believes that we need a role model to show us what is possible and some times even to share a technique of how they got to where they are. The individual may experience a moment of awakening -- that there is more to life than what they have been previously acknowledging, but it is rare for them to know how to make a sustainable change without a little help or guidance. So a teacher and a technique are needed.
 Our friend coming from the life coaching background believes that it is all a choice. Every individual has Grace and the wisdom within and therefor can make the choice which way to go if they want to change their life. A technique or teacher can be helpful, but not necessary. It is rather about the choices they make.
 
One thing that I have noticed about yoga and the path that many in the west have been lead to, is the idea that once you start you are on the road to enlightenment and the power to “manifest” anything you want. I have dedicated my life to yoga and love and respect it deeply; however, I am pretty sure that just yoga alone will not lead you any where close to enlightenment or even the life that you think “perfect”. We must be carful of the way we offer yoga to students, sometimes giving people the idea that they have the tool that will SAVE or ENLIGHTEN them can become dangerous. It can create the idea that they are special and have superiority over others who are not on that same path, which then makes yoga no different then religion. It can also create ideas that if they do hours of yoga a day their lives will be exactly what they want and they need to do nothing more.

As we were talking in the car I realized that I agreed with both my mom and our friend. There is a place for the Divine to come in and create the “miracles” but there also must be a place for personal responsibility and choice.  

 Forgive my judgment but we all know that there are people who have been practicing yoga for years and they are the same jerk as they were before they knew even knew what the word yoga meant. I have also seen people who begin a path of yoga and devotion to their higher-self and they change so deeply you would not recognize them. Why would the same practice affect two people differently?

Yoga is an amazing tool to experience the Divine within. It is hard to make the choice that will serve the Divine us if we have never experienced it. Yoga may be the first steep to that awakening, but once you have had the experience it all becomes choice. How we act off our mats, how we love, how we trust, and we give and forgive. Yoga does not give you a magic wand to enlightenment; it only gives you the touch and tools to open your mind to a new opportunity -- a way of being. The funny thing is, people get the idea that if they begin a yogic path everything in their life will become perfect. They will attract the right love, they will project for the perfect job and get it, and they will become rich and famous just because they are on “the path.” Then when things do not go according to plan or desire, they curse the universe and begin the blame game again.

Yoga does not mean freedom from every thing you do not like in your life, it means union. Union with all that is. Union with trust, because all that is, is by Divine Grace. To me yoga is the union between the experiences of the Divine within and then the way you choose to live your life once you have had these experiences. The practice does not end on the mat; rather the mat is only the beginning. How you treat the lady honking at you in traffic, your loved ones, or the homeless man you pass on the street is where your practice lives. When you’re pissed off and want to blame the world, but instead you make the choice to find the blessing and gratitude in the situation is where yoga/union lies. Yoga is simply a tool to help you find the Grace in every breath.