WORKING OUT VS WORKING IN

People begin yoga for all sorts of reasons. Lots of them are about feeling better in our bodies. Wanting to feel less stiff, or to have better balance perhaps. Sometimes people come to relieve stress and anxiety or to help improve sleep quality. Usually too, there is some sort of perception that yoga is the same as going to the gym to workout. 

Except once you start yoga you realise that this is a false perception. We might start yoga because of a physical ailment or impediment but if we really give ourselves to the practice wholeheartedly, what happens over time, slowly, slowly, is that our point of view shifts.

The years of conditioning from the family and culture we were born into and the expectations of the society around us which make up the lens through which we see the world, is gradually polished clean.

We go deeper and deeper within and we begin to see our true nature beyond the boundaries of our physical bodies.

Mostly these are fleeting moments of insight, glimpses that are not sustained for any period of time. But still, they point us in the right direction and keep feeding our practice. They help us to maintain momentum because our practice becomes so deeply fulfilling.

When we know ourselves well, when we see ourselves clearly without bias, when we understand our desires and aversions and when we see our supposed failings and misgivings for what they truly are, we begin to see our true nature, to trust in it and rely on it.  This is the spark that shines in a yogis eyes and that feeds the flames of practice.