Strength in Stillness

"When you lose touch with your inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world." ~Eckhart Tolle

Deep down, we are all always still, all the time.  Each one of us is like a mountain, standing tall and strong, weathering the elements on the exterior without changing on the inside.  We all have this stillness within. Amidst the constant activity, the unceasing movement of the world around us, there is always stillness, however, most people are not aware of it. We tend to identify with what our mind tells us, what our thoughts or our ego describe.  The Yoga Sutras state that "a mind free from all disturbances is Yoga." When we practice yoga, we practice letting to of our thoughts and our distractions.  Our yoga practice is our time to find and connect with stillness. The stillness is release from the activity of our mind. When we are in stillness, we are at peace, we are present, we are our true selves. 

"Yoga is a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are. The practice of yoga is the practice of meditation - or inner listening - in the poses and meditations, as well as all day long. It's a matter of listening inwardly for guidance all the time, and then daring enough and trusting enough to do as you are prompted to do."

To listen truthfully and honestly to ourselves requires courage and strength. True strength comes from within. It comes when we can be still and serene in the face of calamity. When we can breathe and respond when we become angry or upset. Strength is about more than our physical strength, although that too is important to keep our bodies young and healthy. When we come to our mat, we build physical strength while at the same time building our inner strength. We learn to breathe through challenging poses, we learn to listen to our body and honor it when it tells us to stop or rest. As we tune in to our body we tune in to our inner selves, to our breath, and to our inner strength.

"Calmness is the rarest quality in human life. It is the poise of a great nature, in harmony with life and it's ideals."