"Every one, consciously or unconsciously, is searching for peace and happiness. You are suffering because you have forgotten your real Self. Once you Realize that you are this Immortal Self, you will Realize that your very existence is Permanent and Supreme Peace". Babaji

This statement from one of the worlds current group of enlightened masters highlights the fact that the essence of your true nature is supreme peace. Is it fair to say that this possibly isn't your lived experience of your mind. In fact many people today would possibly struggle to find even a few moments each day when their mind feels peaceful.

Nevertheless, the truth behind this statement has been espoused by all of the great yogis, sages and saints who have walked the earth. Through yoga you come to discover the absolute truth in these words and your experience of peace starts to become one that is infused through all of your daily chores.

You may have experienced glimpses of the minds deep reservoir of peace when you lie down at the end of yoga class for a silent period of deep relaxation. Maybe it bubbles up within those silent spaces of rest between an invigorating flow of standing postures.  Perhaps its during a blissful moment of surrender in childs pose. 

Is it possible though to taste that same truth while paying the bills, busily walking around at the supermarket or watching the evening news?  You might find yourself wondering where does all the blissful peace go then.

Yoga promises much and to the dedicated student it delivers so much more.  What you are doing on your yoga mat is so much more than stretching.  You are preparing yourself for life! 

 

What lessons can you then take from the experiences you have in class and apply them into life?

 

1.    Presence - each class invites you to recognise that everything occurs within the Now.  While your mind may fantasise about a past and future, there is no event that ever occurs outside the present moment.  Sounds obvious but just watch how often your mind jumps around to anything but this moment.  When you're in a challenging pose can you really be there with everything that is bubbling up within your awareness or do you tend to wander off?  When you relax into childs pose, does your mind set off on the shopping list, party invites or all the ways your partner doesn't listen to you?

 

Presence is not really something you practice, it's more a lived experience that you simply become more familiar with.  For short moments, repeated many times thoughout a yoga class, practice relaxing your mind and go deeply into the experience you are having.  Just rest there for sometime without needing to change anything. Don't push or pull, force or struggle. When your mind lets go of any set agenda then there is instant contentment to just enjoy whatever experience you are having.  

 

Begin to notice that beyond all the chatter, your awareness is silently present.  It can either get involved in the 'story' of your practice or it can remain restful. The choice is yours. Become familiar with the feeling of your own calmly present awareness during class. 

 

When back in your life, practice many short moments when you do the same thing.  Relax your mind, let go of the thoughts, look around and realise that when you surrender the need to control, analyse and describe everything then you feel instantly free. 

 

2.    Non resistance - How often do you find yourself in a challening yoga pose and suddenly realise how tightly you're hanging on.  The teacher says to relax your shoulders and you notice that it feels like you're holding up two weeks worth of shopping bags.  How does it then feel to let go of the struggle and melt into the experience without resistance?

What you may begin to find is that many times throughout the day you are instinctively tightening not only your physical muscles but also your emotional muscles as well.  This is all a sign that you are resisting whatever situation is in front of you. 

 

Resistance has the sense of an 'us against them' mentality.  Sure you mightn't want to cook dinner, sure you might be running late and can't afford to stop at the traffic lights.  But the question comes down to how much uneccessary tension you are creating by resisting what actually is. 

 

Your mind creates an unecessary story, weaving a fairtytale that always has you as either the hero who wants to be loved or the villain who the whole world is against.   

 

To observe resistance start becoming more aware of your inner subtle body of feeling sensations during a yoga class.  Watch your bodies sensations move from heavy to light feelings.  Notice the shift that occurs when you stop resisting. 

 

Then throughout life do the same thing.  Listen to the signs of resistance that come up from time to time.  When the lawn needs mowing, when the boss demands unrealistic things, when everything seems to be falling apart take note if you suddenly experience knots in the stomach, tightness in the neck or pain in the back.  Perhaps it comes up for you as emotional reactivity, physical tiredness or even the inability to sleep. 

 

The first step is to become aware of these subtler knots and sensations that usually fly under the radar.  From here try feeling deeply into the tension and ask yourself, what am I resisting, where does this blockage come from.  Stop fighting the moment and go with it, see what you can learn.  Often the tension can immediately unblock itself just through awareness alone. At other times an answer might surface that requires some action.  Awareness as always is key.

 

3.    Relaxation - there are two energies in the human body. One half is activity and the other half is relaxation.  Where do presently spend most of your life?  

Ancient cultures understood the profound benefit of relaxation.  Time to be is as equally important as time to do.  Modern living spends so much time in the go mode that many people have lost the ability to unwind, switch off, sleep or truly relax.  85% of all deaths are stress related.  Dissolving stress does not require drugs or chemicals, it's as simple as re-learning the art of conscious relaxation.

 

Each yoga class demands that you spend at least 10 minutes relaxing.  For some this is bliss and for others torture.  From a yogic perspective, you should also be endeavouring to spend at least an hour or two hour each day in some form of conscious relaxation. 

 

Unfortunately, this excludes the empty zoning out of watching TV or surfing the Internet. What a tragic waste of life!   Conscious relaxation means that you actively enter deeper brain wave patterns, while maintaing awareness. 

 

Meditation is the single greatest gift of yoga to the world.  Fifteen minutes of meditation once or twice each day will radically transform your life within a short space of time.  Even if you think you can't do it and your thoughts are always so busy, just give it a go.  It's the quiet time sitting still that is just as important as quietening your mind.  As my early guru always used to say, if you'll take time to feed your body three times a day, why not feed your soul twice a day.

 

If meditation seems just too challenging then try just lying on your back and listen to a guided Yoga Nidra CD.  Alternatively, take a bath or silently walk along the beach whilst calmly breathing in a slow regulated way. 

 

Short moments of relaxed awareness, repeated regularly throughout the day plus specific periods of conscious relaxation can almost guarantee that your practice of yoga steadily becomes a lived experience. 

 

The art of yoga is one of simply remembering who you are, more than anything. 

 

The practice of yoga involves actual techniques that help train you to remember. 

 

Use your practice as more than a good stretch.  Practice presence, unwind your mind, feel the benefit of non-resistance and steadily allow yourself to become one with the blissful texture of relaxation.  The more you recognise relaxed calm in class, the easier it becomes to remember it in life. 

 

Yoga should be effortless.  Anyone can relax for a short moment.  Coming to class just helps that moment extend itself out gradually until all your moments become filled with the fragrant nectar of loving connection, deep presence and perfect peace.

 

Many blessings on your journey

Michael Daly