Warm Up to Reality

To me, practicing yoga in daily life is extending the sensitivity I have developed through practicing attention and presence on my yoga mat to the world I am living in moment to moment. To be alive is to be in conversation with what is. And what is, is always in flux. There are times for emergence and times to lie fallow and quiet. And the most beautiful and most often overlooked wisdom in Ashtanga yoga in particular is in understanding nature and it’s timing (that’s how I think of and understand vinyasa).

Because human beings mostly struggle with reality (All impermanence! Everything in flux!), it can be extremely helpful to cultivate structure and routines so that we can steady ourselves as we converse with reality. Ashtanga yoga is fantastic in that department - we know what we are to do with every breath we take - its about as structured as you can get really.

So yes, as you continue to explore this practice, use the structure and routine to steady yourself. But I want to invite you to simultaneously warm up to reality. Hold space for human-ness. Hold space for change. For different understanding. For age. For emotion. For life. For reality. With some practice and attention, you can learn to explore reality rather than defend against it.