how not what

What is yoga? The best way to know what something is is to know what it is not. Yoga is not limited to complex body movements or shapes and yoga is not just breathing techniques. To say that yoga aims at optimal health and well being is just not enough. Health and well being happen to be a wonderful bi-product of yoga but yoga doesn't stop there. If we reduce yoga to just the physical plane, or a work out program then it is like using a diamond as a paper weight. But because we are obsessed with body awareness and not consciousness yoga has been reduce to a workout routine. There is more to this wonderful continual happening that we call yoga than meets the eye. Yoga is a holistic science of our inner landscape. It is a beautiful system that reveals our true nature which is one of bliss and creativity.

There is nothing outside of ourselves that we need to acquire in order to become whole and complete. Yoga says that we are already whole and complete unto ourselves. We are divine by our very nature. Just like a sculptor reveals the masterpiece that already exists inside the slab of marble by carefully removing some of the outside layers, the continual process of yoga reveals that at the core of our being lies a masterpiece as well. The journey of yoga asks us to look in and removes some of the external layers that may be blurring our vision. This limited vision of ourselves gives us a limited vision of the world. And therefore our actions are limited.

So how does this work you may wonder? Can one just think that from now on "I am great!" so therefore I am? Ultimately yes! But our minds have a hard time believing this. This is where the practice of yoga comes into play. Yoga is our tool. See our minds are ready and willing to believe everything negative about ourselves. "I am not good enough at this or that." "So and so can do it but not poor me." This is the scrip that is running through our minds and and even our very veins. Yoga is a vehicle for us to observe the flux of the mind and observe these negative thought patterns. In yoga we use the body to get a closer look at the what is happening at deeper layers of our being. For example we can look at our mental layer where our thought rest or our emotional layer to understand and experience deeper truths about our very being.

Yoga, through its dynamic and active practice, gives an experiential understanding that is beyond book knowledge. It is one thing to know an eastern concept from a book on Zen that we are all one and united. But it is whole other dimension to have the very experience that we are all one and united. Yoga is the magical flying carpet for us to be able to have these beautiful understanding via experience. Much like traveling to Africa and merging one's self in the culture is different than looking at a picture of Africa in a book and telling ourselves that we understand all about Africa. Do we really know Africa from a book? Do we know the smells of Africa? Do we know the feeling of Africa? Do we know the sounds of Africa? No. Once the mind labels and defines we have reduces the object (Africa) into something that it is not. Like life itself (Africa included) yoga is dynamic, changing and in constant motion just like our very beings.

Yoga says we are whole and unique. With what ever intention we move the body that intention, that purpose gets inscribed in the being and in the very bio memory of the muscle tissues and muscle fibers themselves. So, if we are running a script of negativity be very clear that we are cultivating a lifestyle that is fulfilling that negative outlook. Yoga imbibes the quality of nature. We are nature ourselves we are not separate from it. Yoga is a tool to bring us back to our true nature, we have just simply forgotten. We may think of ourselves as separate.

All the physical posturing in yoga resembles nature plants, animals and hero's alike. If we practice imbibing there qualities of strength from the image of a warrior, flexibility from the image of the bamboo tree, and courage from the image of the lion be very clear we will have there qualities to serve us in our lives. And the next time we show up to a job interview we will have the courage and strength to share our own unique vision and contribute to the whole.

If we practice yoga postures or asana with the intention of making perfect shapes and having the perfect heal to toe alignment then be very clear that we are imbibing the qualities of a perfectionist. And each yoga class we will inscribe that quality deeper and deeper into our being and muscle memory. Maybe we are even telling ourselves that we are NOT "good" if we can't do a headstand. This negativity is going to the root of your being. Look in. Create the qualities of a nurturing compassion being. It all starts with yourself. If you are negative towards yourself you will be negative with others. You will not know of another way of being.

Yoga is a gift to yourself and therefor the gift to the world. Get on your mat and find a good teacher. Look inside and surely the teacher is there. Reveal yourself to yourself.