Author: pmcrose

Yesterday at yoga class, I had a student who’d never done yoga before. As a brand-new student, she was, of course, having an awkward time in some poses, but she certainly was sincerely trying what she could. To the casual observer, it might have looked like she would not have liked the class since she was often struggling and seeming confused.

However, at the end of class, she looked calm and was smiling. She said she needed to tell me something. “I think I am going to go home and be able to be nice to my husband again.”

This is a good reminder that our yoga practices move and support us in positive directions.

The practices can help us all be “nice” again.

The life force, or Prana Shakti, is a chameleon of costume changes which toss our pleasure-loving, pain-avoiding ego about on its ever-changing waves.

However, fear not! The witness is the immutable constant in this whirlwind of life–ever-compassionate, yet not passionate, ever-loving and unchanging.

This witness or awareness is the one constant that has always been there for us and always will be–our truly constant companion and ever-present refuge.

Our yoga and meditation practices help us center in this again, and again, no matter what the circumstances of life’s drama.

If the yogic sages and poets are correct and the inherent nature of our expanded Self is joy and bliss, then joy really always does have our back.

It is always there to draw on, to back us up, no matter what the circumstances we are facing.

Now that’s support!

Joy does not always visibly show up as joy as we expect it to look and make our life more joyful.

Rather, at times, the joyfulness of the Self acts more like a ballast that helps balance our emotional state especially during difficulties life poses.

It gives us a steadiness that might otherwise not be there, helping us be more present and calmer to circumstances at hand.

It is a natural ballast to the sadness that can fill the ever-compassionate heart.

Practice your yoga and mediation faithfully and trust this ballast of joyfulness will do its part to balance your ship of life.

It’s got your back!

Perfectly happy is another oxymoron.

However, what if the Self or the universal were like a bubbly tar pit with joy naturally bubbling up?

None of us would mind getting stuck here for a while, would we?

Through our yoga and meditation practices, we can move beyond our contracted ego-centric sense of self (where we may normally hang) along a continuum of expansiveness.

Through the practices we can hang out here for a while in this more expansive sense of self and being.

A hummingbird’s wings against our cheeks, so subtle, so vibrant.

Such is the creative life force, the Shakti or Prana Shakti that we can meet in our yoga and meditation.

Humming, vibrating… life!

The life force or prana literally breathes us, beats our heart, and holds us up. It composes our thoughts and feelings and sensations.

Now that’s support!

The mind, as it grows quieter and relaxes, comes to rest in the heart in a hammock of love.

Our yoga and meditation practices supports us through all that life brings to us–literally everything.

Like in a hammock, we can relax into this space, being held.