Because Yoga Doesn't Need Reason

"Reason is a finite instrument. It cannot explain many mysterious problems of life. Those who are free from the so-called rationalism and skepticim can march in the path of... realization." 

-Swami Sivananda Saraswati

To be honest, I don't find this quote very moving. I don't read it and think to myself, "wow, self, this is it. this quote explains the first 22 years of your life." That being said, it keeps coming back to me. I found it in a book called Yoga Jems by Feurstein, by accident- I had picked a different quote to read from this book before teaching a yoga class and when I opened the book as we all sat together, this quote came into my vision and out from my lips. Since then it keeps popping back in my head. This blog post is a perfect example- I wanted to write about yoga, because it is a topic that I have come to be very passionate about, but I had no specific topic or reason to write about it. This quote popped into my head, and I pushed the power button on my dirty, 4 year old laptop. Now here I am.

Yoga. Why is it an inspiration in your life? What draws you to your practice day, after day, after day? For me, my first yoga experience began as a questionable class that the kid in my philosophy class was teaching so I said I would show up. There was some weird breathing, a lot of slow motion movement that felt nothing like a work out, and a closing that required me to state this word, Namaste, which to me rang out as a calling from a cult that I wanted no part of.

Clearly, something changed in my mindset to bring me back to class. It took a full year and a move to Colorado to get me there, but regardless my second class occurred. So did my third. My fourth and fifth and sixth until one day, I woke up from my sweet, sweet slumber to a life that involved at least one class on most days. And that is the life that I live today. Why? Because it is an opportunity. An opportunity for me to grow, physically and mentally, together.  An excuse for release, so that I can come to my mat every day and find out something new in my life to influence where my day goes. So that I can reach an obstacle on the mat that mirrors an obstacle off of the mat, and let them both go with one fell swoop.  I am drawn to my practice everyday because it is one of the few things that I think of when I am not "doing" it.  My practice reminds me that there is no perfection and there is no failure... everything that I do  is somewhere on the spectrum of in between, and I have no control of where it is on that spectrum. All that I can do is put in the effort, try my hardest, and hope that I will feel nothing more and nothing less than fulfilled when I have decided to come to my final breath. 

If you have answers to these questions, please comment and let me know. I love to hear about other people's experiences with yoga. 

One breath together to seal our practice.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Namaste.