Yoga Seva Disaster Relief

YOGA causes a silent space in the heart and mind, were the still small voice can be heard, even the voice of our creator.

Yoga has produced many things for me, physically, mentally and spiritually. Most of it I did not know about till till something happened in life, and what yoga was doing for me just showed up. And I accert that none of it would have showed up without consistent, persistent practice.

So one day I got very seriously rearended while stopped at a light. The other person in the car (an athletic and in shape individual) spent the next three months in rehab for your typical whiplash, back and neck injuries. I never even had a single muscle twinge. Not a sore spot. Strong, and elastic. NAMASTE

My 5th entry of my yoga story:

On the topic of judgement. weather we are working, playing, cooking, sitting by ourselves, or raising a family it seems our mindset is always to judge. Judge what he is doing, judge what she is doing, judge what they are doing;

I often hear people say oh I would never do that, or I can't believe they're doing that, and I have I caught myself saying, I can't believe they would even think such a thing. This is good, that is bad, this you should do, that you shouldn't do, this is the right way, that is the wrong way.

And what happenes is we start pointing that kind of finger at ourselves and we never stop. Its such a long standing and running conversation in Society & in our minds that it never stops, and it stunts are growth.

It stops us from doing the things which we would do. It stops us from that which we might possibly accomplish, because we are constantly judging. And it stops us from loving the way we can love.

There is a very good reason why almost all versions of the Holy writ teach, encourage, and even command, not to ever judge.
And Yoga is a physical manifestation of these written teachings. We are not to judge our teachers, for they are in that position for a purpose; We are not to judge the person next to us, for we don't know how long they have been in the practice of yoga, or what they are going through in this life;

And most importantly we are not to judge ourselves. for we are only where we are at, we can move only as much as we can move, we can only breathe as much as we can breathe. One day we are able to do some asana perfectly, and the next we can barely stand.

The only important thing is to clear our minds breathe and move. And it does not matter how well we can move, or how flexible, or how strong we are. At the heart of yoga is a space of non judgment and love. just breathe and move that is the intention

My 4th entry to my yoga story;
The lessons I have learned from yoga are directly applicable to the everyday life that I see and live.
For instance, breathing is the most important aspect of yoga. In yoga breathing must remain intentional, calm, deep, and smooth. Each inhale and exhale is well timed, and synchronized with every movement. The way we breathe in yoga gives us stronger ability to move, better ability to balance, and a relaxed body for stretching,. and conversely if we do not breathe right while practicing yoga the asanas become more difficult, and sometimes even impossible. My instructors will sometimes say "if you cannot move then breathe. remember if you stop breathing then you die." "if you can't breathe then there is always child's pose. And once you have found your breath then re join the practice."

Our bodies breathing is an autonomic system. as long as we have a heartbeat, and electricity in our body, our body will choose to breathe. We do not have to think about it. The issue becomes this; as I said before, our body holds in negative emotions when not properly dealt with. so it will get tight, and start breathing shallow without your conscious permission, and specifically it will do this with your unconscious permission. If we forget to consciously exhale fully, and inhale fully very often then every movement we make becomes more difficult, our head begins to hurt and our conscious mind begins to struggle. Movement can become almost impossible, depression sets in. It is as if we are starting to die. breathing deeply helps the body to relax the mind to think, and the spirit freedom to express itself.

Remember in life, when things get difficult, and thinking gets hard to impossible; When anger frustration and doubt set into everyday activity; remember that the first thing you must do is breathe. You exhale fully, and then inhale fully. and do this until you have a smooth rhythm, and some of the stress and pain and heartache have gone, and you are free to think again. when you have that rhythm please rejoin the practice of life. Namaste

thank you for reading.