Inside Yoga 191 (23/1/2017)
We can run and we can hide but our thoughts will always catch up with us. Good or bad thoughts, this is how it can feel when meditating but this is a good reason to watch our thoughts and face them, like looking in the mirror we see ourselves, warts and all.
Whether we are sitting in stillness of meditation or practising some yoga asanas (exercises) this practice is designed to offer us a look at ourselves, because if we are to improve the quality of our life, we first need to know who we are.
This might sound like an uncomfortable path to self-realisation and liberation, but this is the path yoga guides us along and once we get used to seeing our self, we can then embrace who we are and what the world is to us.
If we are practising yoga asanas we learn to be more aware of our body, our breath and our mind, as we ask our body to move into posture after posture. It’s a journey with our body, mind and breath. By establishing a connection with our body, breath and mind we become more in tune with what is happening for us at every moment.
This does include the frequency and abundance of thoughts, welcome and unwelcome, and we continue to see them arise and pass… perhaps by moving into the next posture we can shift the unwanted thought.
By practising and looking inward at our self, we learn to accept who we are and how we tick and how we relate to the world. Practise gives us the time and the opportunity to be with our self and prepare for the world beyond our inner world.
This might sound very introspective, but there is a saying which states: if we want to heal the world first heal ourselves. This practice asks us to look our self in our metaphorical mirror before we understand the world, because, how we see the world is often a reflection of what is happening within us. When angry with someone or something sometimes the object of our anger is actually not guilty, because we were angry anyway for another reason.
Either way, we are facing our self. We are looking in the mirror seeing reflections of our self and we continue to this whether it’s via the practice of yoga asanas, meditation or pranayamas.
Feel free to share this blog with others, and any thoughts, questions or comments contact me via the blog reply panel below or email me gary@yogabristol.co.uk
