Yoga Off The Mat - A Lesson From The Ocean
Teachings are everywhere- we only have to be open enough to see them as such.
I recently led a yoga and meditation retreat at San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara. One of the many rich and beautiful moments was when I was sitting with my student by the ocean. It was not a ’scheduled’ session time but in a single moment I looked out at the ocean and he turned to me with a quizical ‘what are you thinking?’ expression on his face and right there the teaching, the yoga, emerged. Sitting by the ocean’s edge gazing into infinity with the soft ocean breeze brushing against my skin and my sun-kissed arms absorbing the nourishment of this bearer of light, I watched the tide moving in and out unfailingly dancing to its own rhythm. I observed how a single wave was its own entity and yet part of the entire ocean. It was impossible I observed to feel any kind of separation when we see ourselves in the same way. We are the wave and the ocean. The Self and Atman. Everything was contained in that one moment just like it is contained in this moment. We are re-creating ourselves each moment anew. Just as we cannot bathe in the same ocean water twice so we are not the same as we were last year, or last month or yesterday.
The lesson here is that yoga does not just happen on the mat. The asanas (yoga postures) are a vehicle to understanding more about who we are and what we are capable but it never stop there. The asana is the question not the answer. It is the place from which we start, not the end that we aspire to.
My vision of yoga these days is about aligning with my most authentic self and supporting others in doing the same. And whether I learn it balancing in Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand), chanting a mantra, sitting by the ocean’s edge watching the wave relaxing into the ocean or sitting in traffic and giving the person who aggressively cuts in front of me a silent blessing instead of a curse… it is all yoga. It is not enough in this day and age to do yoga- the question is are we doing it well? Are we embodying Yoga? Are we living the teachings? Are we in the Flow?
Be the wave… continuously re-creating yourself in the Now. And enjoy your ocean-ness… infinite possibilities exist in all dimensions and are only limited by your imagination.
Leena Patel has written numerous articles on health, yoga and spirituality and leads yoga retreats and workshops nationwide. She is currently based in Las Vegas where she teaches yoga and meditation to Celine Dion and A New Day. She can be reached via email at Info@leenapatel.net or through her website http://www.leenapatel.net
Tags: yoga lessons, yoga philosophy, yoga retreats, yoga vacations, yoga off the mat
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