The same you, sustainably revised

Same purusa, altered prakrti

Sometimes it's a whisper. Sometimes it's a holla. Sometimes it's a cry. The "something" within knows the way, yet the rest of us needs the tools, encouragement and awareness to walk it. Alterations necessary for a more empowered experience do not come naturally. Yoga's interventions were developed to help us along. As we modify our parts, we modify the whole.

This month, our students, our teachers, and all teachers of Yoga, have new and improved opportunities to nurture the spirit that called you to Yoga in the first place. Refresh your skillset starting now, using the sustainable revision model of Yoga.

Yoga is not a crash diet of short term, sporadic practices. It’s a cleverly orchestrated reorganization of your lifestyle priorities, driven by practice interventions that are progressive in nature. Apraptasya praptih Yoga, that is, Yoga is the gaining of something which we previously did not have. Yoga ksemam, consolidating and protecting these assets, is also Yoga.

I am reminded of pyramids I visited in Mexico. The stairs upward were wide. I could not climb each step in one stride. Also wearing my baby at the time, I tired as soon as I began. Tired already from traveling and mothering a toddler, I had to adapt to an entirely new state of being. My personality, although driven and determined, needed to bow to my physical and pranic limitations. So, I took a step and consolidated my next foot there, on the landing between steps, catching my breath, making sure the babe was cool and not too wild for a stable next step. Then again. Then again. I didn’t even make it a quarter of the way up; however, I didn’t drain my energy, I accomplished a great goal of visiting a pyramid and getting my child, under two at the time, in the energy field of ancient power.

I was the type who would never have forgiven myself for not climbing to the top, but I compassionately allowed myself to adapt. Instead, we explored less spectacular looking sites that felt even more powerful, sucked on Mayan honey lollipops while riding in a bicycle wagon, discovered a temple that honored bees, dropped ambition and replaced it with intuition. As my mind rerouted in daily Yoga, I gained the ability to do that in life’s own maze of possibilities.

In our daily practice, starting where we are, we acknowledge our origin point. Yoga similarly guides our life progress, sustainably, aggregating subtle skillsets in all of our dimensions step-by-step, breath-by-breath, practice-by-practice. As we turn our attention inward, surprise discoveries emerge, new experiences arise, we participate in the active renewal of our bodies, minds, functionality, emotions. We uncover capacities previously dormant and breathe new life into our old selves.