Breathe...

"We too should make ourselves empty, that the great soul of the universe may fill us with its breath." ~Laurence Binyon

Your breath is your pranayama. Your life-giving energy force. Pranayama is the 4th limb of Patanjali's 8 Limbed Path described in the Yoga Sutras.  We cannot live without our breath, yet we take breathing for granted. The breath frees our mind of distractions, rids our bodies of toxins, and is the link to our higher self. When we use our breath mindfully and purposefully, listening to the sound and feeling and flow of our breath, we open up the channels of energy and harmony in our bodies.  Each time you step onto your mat, each day you awaken, give yourself permission to flow into and out of each pose or into and out of each situation in which you find yourself.  Take time to bring your awareness back to your breath, and simply be.

We all lose our path, lose concentration, fall out of poses, forget to breathe.  When these things happen, you can allow it to be OK, or allow it to distract and cause you worry.  The only person who can take away your happiness is you.  By returning to our breath, focusing on the very act of breathing, we can clear our minds of distractions. When you find yourself feeling stressed, anxious, or challenged, on your mat or in your daily life, begin to listen to your breath. The oceanic-like sound and rhythm of the breath naturally calms and quiets our thoughts. Make it your intention to be fully aware and engaged with your breath in each and every moment.

"The practice is simply this: keep coming back to your breath during the day. Just take a moment. This will give your mind a steadiness and your breath a gracefulness.... There’s so much to let go of, isn’t there? Your nostalgia and your regrets. Your fantasies and your fears. What you think you want instead of what is happening right now. Breathe." ~Rodney Yee, Yoga: The Poetry of the Body

A steady, conscious breath is all you need to bring yourself into the present moment. What is happening now is all that matters. Whatever happened yesterday, an hour ago, a second ago, is over and done. What is going to happen has not yet happened and will happen, no matter what. All that we know for sure is Now. When you return to your breath, you connect with joy, freedom, serenity, and peace. Your breath is your path to contentment. When we empty ourselves of our thoughts, our worries, our fears, our desires, we make space within to fill ourselves with all that truly exists - light, love, peace, and happiness.

"Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted -- in body, mind, and heart -- and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow -- or we begin to flow more in our lives."
~Cybele Tomlinson

Uniting Body and Breath

"Yoga is about clearing away whatever is in us that prevents our living in the most full and whole way. With yoga, we become aware of how and where we are restricted -- in body, mind, and heart -- and how gradually to open and release these blockages. As these blockages are cleared, our energy is freed. We start to feel more harmonious, more at one with ourselves. Our lives begin to flow -- or we begin to flow more in our lives."

~Cybele Tomlinson

Yoga is more than the physical practice with which most of us are familiar. In Patanjali's 8 Limbed Path, in the Yoga Sutras, the Asanas, or physical postures, are the 3rd limb, following the Yamas and Niyamas. The intention of the asanas is to prepare the body for meditation. In Western culture, we tend to associate the asanas with physical fitness. Yet it is through the asanas that we develop the discipline, concentration, and inner awareness to transform ourselves and our practice. The unnecessary parts of this world fade away and we are left with breath, body, movement, and spirit.

When we come to our mat, we are often told to connect with our breath. To breathe and move. We can use our breath to calm our mind, body, and spirit. When you come into a pose, allow the posture, with help from your breath, to release tension. Be aware of where you're holding and exhale it away. "The posture of yoga is steady and easy." This is how Patanjali describes the asanas. To free our minds of distractions, and thus be totally at peace, we must also free our bodies of distractions. Tension held in our muscles, or pain in some part of our body, distracts our mind. As we move through our physical practice, the union of breath, body, and movement, calms the mind. Patanjali said, "Posture is mastered by freeing the body and mind from tension and restlessness and meditating on the infinite." The infinite and united light that connects us all to one another and the entire universe. Through our breath we connect to each pose and we connect with our practice. Yoga is about this connection of breath, body, and spirit. Yoga means union - the union of our individual self with our highest self. Through the practice of yoga we can make that connection.

You are yoga. You are the union with each object, each living creature, with each person you see, and with the entire universe.

"You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state." (Sharon Gannon)