Shift Happens- the Yoga of Love

Shift Happens- the Yoga of Love

Yoga teaches us to dissolve the ego, to live in the moment with flexibility and courage. Yoga teaches us to “put ourselves in uncomfortable and challenging positions and to become comfortable with them so that when they come up in life, we’re already good at it.” We are ever changing beings in an ever-changing environment. The only real constant is change. The only time that we feel pain is when we resist the change.
Resistance to change is akin to fearing the unknown.
When we embark upon change, we are never quite sure of how we will emerge on the other side. Sometimes it is easier to continue to settle for things just as they are. When we make a resolution only to break it after a few weeks, or even days, it is because we are afraid of whom we might become if we succeed. Fear is an invitation to seize opportunity. A new standard of personal accountability can be daunting, but is ultimately rewarding.
It can be difficult to love what challenges us most, but those challenges provide us with the most magnificent magnifying mirrors. Seeing what we do not wish to see can send us rushing back to old habits of being unconscious, or unaware. As we deepen our practices of mindfulness in yoga and meditation, our hearts become more open. With time, opening becomes easy. Though we may rise to the task of gaining self-awareness, love and trust, the addition of loving ‘others’ adds to the challenge prolifically. Yoking ourselves to the divine is an essential aim of Yoga. The English word Love has so many definitions, whether it’s a noun, a verb, an adjective, or euphemism. Our objective with our practice is to connect with the divine, and our objective in relationship is to connect with one another. When we read things that tell us that we come from different planets, that concept seems to move us further apart when we are truly seeking union. When a loss of communication leads to a break down of connection with those who are significant to us, how can we come closer together? We are called to bring our true feminine essence and our true masculine essence into balance. Yoga has the power and the tools to bring us together. We learn the art of physical balance, which we learn to engage in our daily lives. We meet with resistance, but we learn to bend.
We can also learn to think and speak with compassion and flexibility through the philosophies of yoga.
First things first, learn your own language, know thyself- then when you tell someone who you are, it will be the truth.
Choose to refuse to wallow. Pick up the pieces of your self-esteem, mix them with your dignity, glue them into the shape of a heart and then courageously open it up. Refuse to settle. We teach the people in our lives how to treat us by the way we allow or don’t allow – with our boundaries or lack thereof. Yoga teaches us the art of self-acceptance, to love ourselves, the foundation for loving others.
Change really is the only constant in this world. Every breath we take, every thought and action, changes us on a cellular level. Virtually every message we receive in the western consumer society is designed to point our fragile self in the opposite direction of where yoga would take us.

So think with your heart. Even Nike says “Just do it”.
Open wide, go deeper and real-ize… Shift Happens. Don’t waste the pretty.
“Creativity is the only outcome of conflict that satisfies the soul.”
– William Blake