By Leena Patel
In chapter 2, line 46. of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali tells us:
sthiram-sukham asanam
The posture should be steady and comfortable.
As a teacher I am faced with continuous choices that affect how my students establish these qualities for themselves. Do I speak, do I not speak? Do I touch, do I not touch? Do I step back or do I challenge them to go deeper? How do I create an environment which enables each individual to bring forth these qualities in their practice? I want to empower them with confidence in their own abilities and the choices that they make. I want to encourage them to not submit to the critical inner dialogue that goes on in their head that tells them they should do more, push more, achieve more and instead move and feel and act with kindness and compassion towards themselves.
At the same time, I let them know that being steady and comfortable does not always mean playing it safe. Neither does it mean not making an effort or retreating when the going gets tough. Ease sometimes means stepping into a difficult place, or one that is unknown- but at the heart of each step is the awareness and acknowledgement that we are actively making that choice because we are choosing to live deeply within ourselves. We are learning and re-learning continuously how we can find steadiness whilst embracing all that we are offered- whether in a yoga class when facing a challenging posture, whether we are sitting in our meditation seat and samskaras (past impressions that arise to be expelled) are coming up, or whether we are facing the swings and roundabouts of events in our sometimes tumultuous daily lives.
We are choosing to discover more about who we are, even in our sadness, our fear, our frustration and our boredom -because in doing so we are discovering for ourselves what it means to be more comfortable in our own self. At every moment we are given the opportunity to live as a spiritual warrior, soft and relaxed on the outside, strong, resilient and supple on the inside. Then, when we honor the flow of divine grace that supports us on this inner journey we recognise that even though life can and often is hard, we are truly being supported. This can give us the confidence to ease up on the tendency towards self-judgement, paradoxically achieving more than we thought possible and more importantly, loving the ride that we are on.
© Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Leena Patel is currently based in Las Vegas where she teaches yoga and meditation to Celine Dion and A New Day. She has written numerous articles on health, yoga and spirituality and has taught across the US, Canada and in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria and the UK. She can be reached at http://www.leenapatel.net
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posted by Cheryl Levesque @ 9:39 AM
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