why yoga is good for you

 

FYI: That’s a very important point to remember.

Although modern day yoga looks a bit like pretzel-ling ones body and taking selfies, it has a much deeper and significant root… one that might just lead you away from ALL the suffering of the 21st century.

 

In our earnest practice, we can hope to come to the real, present, knowing, powerful loving and connected being that we already are, beneath our ‘stuff’.

 

‘Hey, wake up! Not all is as it seems. It’s time to sift out the illusion from the truth and break free from our self perpetuating reel of suffering and wrong identification.’

Let’s try understanding YOGA backwards to see why it looks the way it does today…

 

 

– waking up and seeing the truth of existence. (there is really no way to make that sound less dramatic… but it is a real, grounded and tangible possibility for all of us)

 

– to do that we must be able to see the illusoriness of our experiences and ultimately see through ‘ourselves’.

 

– to do that we must sit down and enquire for some time into our directly held and believed experiences

– to enquire and discriminate deeply, we must first have a steady, sharp and focused mind

 

– for that we need to be able to step back and subdue our senses and be able to begin to direct our attention and energy inward where we want to point it and keep it there at will.

 

– which means we have to begin to understand subtle energy, how it moves within us and how to consciously direct it with our awareness and intention alone.

 

– to guide subtle energy and mind at will, we first have to be able to guide our gross ‘physical’ breath with skill, to influence the state of our mind, body and nervous system, bringing calm, control, clarity and balance in our breath and being.

 

– in order to master our breath… the body, especially the fascia, spine, organs and muscles of breathing apparatus need to be completely free, fluid and responsive…. not the modern day stiff brittle beings that we are.

 

– most people can barely relax their breath into their belly because they are so knotted with bad posture, bad habits, lack of movement and way way way too much suppressed emotion and trauma.

 

– The answer? 

Physical Hatha Yoga. 

Let’s get our bodies moving to clear out all our stickiness, open up the fascia and connective tissues, release our organs, stimulate our muscles, unclog our lymphatics and circulate the vital fluid around our whole body in order to bring balance to all our energy centers and channels before even trying to work with the breath….

 

– What does Hatha Yoga look like? Well, a wee bit like moving, stretching, pretzel-ling and conditioning of our bodies… but defiantly… NO selfies or medals for achievement.

 

… You see, so much personal goodness can come from all the above… body, breath and mind centering, and cultivation of our intellect and real wisdom and knowing, and yet it is not an ego centered activity, but something that we can all do for each other in the long run, in the name of realizing a greater collective being together and living from a place of surrender, service and devotion for something beyond our selves.

 

So I’d say, yes, Yoga is pretty good for you and incredibly beneficial or all beings, which is the greater purpose we serve, by stepping onto our mat and doing the work on ourselves.

 

xXx