We can get caught thinking yoga is all about flexibility or strength, exercise or meditation. Indeed it IS these things but not only these things. Yoga is about community too. It is about creating a sense of belonging and being curious about others. It is about building relationships with others and with our own selves.
Yoga
IS simple quiet moments sipping tea.
Listening to the rain.
Letting life be slow for a moment.
This past Saturday morning I played with a group of children.
Yoga with them was story telling with our bodies. It was imagination and play. It was loving reminders to be gentle with each other and even quietly asking them to take a moment alone-then welcoming them back with enthusiasm.
For me, that morning, yoga was embracing the beautiful chaos of a room full of children. It was total acceptance, patience, understanding and a sense of joy. It was setting firm but flexible boundaries and holding them in place with tenderness.
In the evening yoga was guiding a group of people into a playful irreverent dance practice. We sweat and flowed and laughed. Our yoga was shared delight. It was movement and music and meeting new people.
Yoga is everything, it is everywhere. It is ours to discover and explore and LIVE. It is not simply a sequence of body shapes or the achievement of a goal. It is a way of being. A way of seeing, and doing. Yoga is path finding. It is holding trust in the light and cultivating an understanding of darkness. Yoga is found not just in the body, but in our breath, our hearts, our thoughts. In these same internal spaces so too we PRACTICE yoga.
We practice, every day, in every way. We do it all imperfectly….that is why it is called practice.
Namaste xo
KATE
KATE Mooney 