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Our yoga and meditation practices obviously benefit us. But how they benefit others may not be so obvious.

Like the gong’s sound waves emanating outward, the vibratory effects of our practice emanate outward rippling to others.

As practitioners, we very often to not know or see these effects, but like the gong’s waves, they spread their effects outward in mysterious and wonderful ways.

Every time we practice, we strike the gong… for the benefit of all of us!

Recently at Thanksgiving, two people close to me shared the way they show or share their gratitude–by working on themselves so they have a “better” person to share with others.

In yoga and meditation, this internal work to better ourselves is sadhana. It is our life’s project, according to yoga, to come to know our self as the Self, to know how this individual being and all beings relate to the universal. In doing this project, we develop more love and compassion, deeper joy, and more light.

Much of yoga is about bringing more light to this darkness, to lessen suffering which is to some degree endemic to being human. The sages teach us this need not be our plight or fate. With effort and grace, we can transform how we live this life and share that with others.

This ultimately is the yogi’s “project.”

Not a bad “project” for this life, huh?!

May our life’s project be blessed with more and more light, with more joy and compassion, and greater peace and deep deep happiness!

At the end of yoga class, we often say namaste. In the context of yoga, this means the divine light in me honors the divine light in you.

In yoga, we are essentially divine light, each us a unique play or version of this light.

We honor it, we honor you, and all us as That which we essentially are.

It is a reverent act. Who could not honor or revere the Light which becomes and is all of us?

I honor and respect you and myself as this Light in action on this earth.

Therefore, we try in a practical way to make decisions in a family or group of friends and/or co-workers that honor and respect everyone involved. We take their opinions and needs and wants into account and try to build decisions and action that are truly mutually beneficial.

This is namaste in action, not a mere philosophic idea or ideal, but an active approach to living.

Namaste!

The impulse to share gratitude is as natural as when a cat rubbing against you purrs. It’s reflexive.

How do you share your gratitude? How do you show it? What do you do with it? What do you do out of gratitude?

When we bow to this feeling and share it mysterious and wondrous energy, we help create a better world, a more grateful and satisfied world.

We grow gratitude!

Just as a heater gives off heat,

a benevolent heart gives off blessings.

Yoga and meditation help nurture such a kind and compassionate heart.

This, in and of itself, is a blessing!

With the holiday just before us, it’s a good time to stop for a moment and catch our breath.

Here at the precipice of the Thanksgiving holiday, we can prepare ourself to jump into the holiday by giving ourselves a breather.

Yoga and meditation can give us this space to pause, to take stock of things, and to reset.

Breathe in deep… and breathe out long!

It’s always good to take a breath before you jump!

Any gathering is more than we might think.

It is literally a gathering of souls–a coming together of unique individuals, unique expressions of the life force converging for a time, often for some purpose.

It may be a party, a meeting, a wedding, a sporting event, even a casual encounter, a yoga class… souls converge on a place for a time.

Unique souls, unique convergences in time–remember and recognize this in your life and the significance of gatherings takes on a new light, brighter, more clear.

If we gather with this vision, we see each other and the convergence differently, as a unique expression of the mystery of life.

There’s yoga in this! We gather, my light meets your light, and hopefully this can make this world a brighter place!

The act of creation is ecstatic.

The life force is always at move doing its dance in the background. Think the joy at the birth of a child, a happy wedding, a five year old’s birthday, even merely a gorgeous sunset… we have all had some taste of this ecstatic joy.

Our yoga and meditation can align us with this ecstatic joy of creation that is creating us–you, me… everyone.

Much freer than any two-step or cha-cha, this ecstatic dance of the life force is a miracle to behold–all possible from your yoga mat and meditation cushion.

Drop into the space. The dance is on-going, and we can partner-up for quite a twirl on the dance floor of life!

See the photo above of our exhausted and overwhelmed kindergarten teacher. She has found a way to restore herself after a day of Halloween activities and a party with a throng of buzzing overly-excited 5 years olds.

Legs Up the Wall!

The handiest and easiest of poses–against a wall, a bed, or a couch… on a yoga block or a bolster or cushion.

Just kick those legs up and breathe, and the rest will happen. Get out of the way with your expectations and interpretations, and let whatever stress and emotions that have accumulated come to surface and wash away to leave you more refreshed and centered.

So next time life has you up against the wall and you’re feeling overwhelmed or overly stressed or just dazed and confused, kick your legs up the wall. Help restore your sense of well-being.

Yoga instruction is replete with foot, arm, and body adjustments for alignment.

However, missing from much instruction are the most significant alignment cues–how to align energetically with the heart, with love.

Not that physical alignment is not vital to safety in poses and feeling the energetics of a given pose.

But aligning ourselves with love is the ultimate yoga pose with its unique and wonderful energetics.

May our practices continue to keep us safe and strong and align us more and more deeply with love–the ultimate yoga pose to explore.