What goes up must come down

We don’t have to soar and plummet with it

Extremes are real. Life is this way. Unfathomably beautiful realities juxtaposed with deep lows. Weather is this way. Summer temperatures are this way. Seasonal changes exhibit this pattern. The nature of all matter is this way, as it’s composed of rajas, tamas and sattva. If every time life goes up, we go all the way up with it, suffering is inevitable. If every time life goes down, we go all the way down with it, we are truly doomed. There’s no permanent solution to avoid this nature of matter; however there is practice to prevent exacerbating the suffering caused by unexpected change.

Discover three valuable questions we all need to be asking ourselves.

Question One: Am I doing the right practices for my stage of life?

The general rule is: If you’re young, do āsana. Young/middle, prānāyāma. Middle/elder, meditation. Not only and in isolation of the other practices, but in conjunction with. Life gets too real to stay married to “physical” Yoga. It won’t serve us in our roles as householders, employers/employees/entrepreneurs/volunteers/ parents/children/ sisters/brothers/nieces/nephews/friends.

Question Two: If I have symptoms of suffering, of any kind, are my practices being intelligently designed with the intention to alleviate them?

We are the starting point for practices, as we are (not as we were or we wish ourselves to be). Where are we now, and where do we want to go? What shape is our body in, today? Our nervous system? Our energy level? Mental domain? How can we, gradually, over time, move the needle to better serve our holistic wellbeing and our lives? Foremost, the requirement in order for Yoga to work is that we honor this. 

Question Three: Do I practice daily? I do, without fail. Patañjali’s is clear, daily practice is non negotiable if our goal is Yoga. And not as drudgery and a task to check off on our list - as an integral self care routine that we appreciate and have faith in.

Life isn’t Monday-Friday, or Saturday and Sunday: It’s every day. If we struggle on Tuesday afternoon, but we had to leave the house early and didn’t practice, how we weather the down will be commensurate with our relentless, default psycho-emotional-behavioral patterning. And the suffering compounds. 

Explore our offerings for the practices we can do to find the answers, such as August’s meditation and Yoga Therapy.