When I first started to compose my post for this week, I wrote a confession that I hadn't quite had any insights to share — nothing had gelled. So, instead of writing my own thoughts, I planned to share my favorite insights from others, listing some of the quotations about the practice of yoga and meditation that I find most inspiring. But then, I realized...
Addicted to Learning
...that this is what I always do. I look outside myself for information and wisdom. It's actually a problem. I love books and can't resist buying new ones. My shelves are overflowing with other people's words. I love learning, and if I had limitless funds and no children to care for I would probably be in a training every weekend. If it's a free online training about yoga, building a yoga business, or teaching yoga, I'm signed up.
So, as I began to flip through my favorite books for those precious underlined nuggets to share with you, it hit me. I'm the biggest advocate for going within and getting quiet enough to hear the inner voice, but I often rush around trying to fill my head with wisdom from "the experts." And when I do get still and quiet enough to hear my innate wisdom, I don't always value it as much as a I do something that came out of a book.
Addicted to Learning
...that this is what I always do. I look outside myself for information and wisdom. It's actually a problem. I love books and can't resist buying new ones. My shelves are overflowing with other people's words. I love learning, and if I had limitless funds and no children to care for I would probably be in a training every weekend. If it's a free online training about yoga, building a yoga business, or teaching yoga, I'm signed up.
So, as I began to flip through my favorite books for those precious underlined nuggets to share with you, it hit me. I'm the biggest advocate for going within and getting quiet enough to hear the inner voice, but I often rush around trying to fill my head with wisdom from "the experts." And when I do get still and quiet enough to hear my innate wisdom, I don't always value it as much as a I do something that came out of a book.
Things Get Deep
I'm reminded of a beautiful experience I had in meditation once. It was one of those meditations in Kundalini Yoga that asks you to hold your arms up in the air for a LONG time, and I went through my usual inner dialogue until I got to a neutral, blissful place and felt I could go on forever. Usually, this is the ultimate state for me, just what I'm going for. But then, something shifted and deepened. I received a partial message from the core of my being: "This is why...."
That's it, just three words that from the outside don't seem very informative. Yet, I felt very clear on their significance. The This was the act of meditation and the mental state I was in. The why was why everything in my life that had been confused, stifled, out of balance, and inauthentic had happened. All that stumbling had led me to the moment of realization — however unformed — "This is why." I repeated the phrase silently in my mind over and over — arms still aloft — feeling elated, feeling the greatest sense of who I am I'd ever felt.
So, here's the AHA... not that I should never read or attend trainings again, but, at least some of my collected inspiration, should be in my own words, originating from my inner voice.
Words of Inspiration, Starting With My Own
I'm reminded of a beautiful experience I had in meditation once. It was one of those meditations in Kundalini Yoga that asks you to hold your arms up in the air for a LONG time, and I went through my usual inner dialogue until I got to a neutral, blissful place and felt I could go on forever. Usually, this is the ultimate state for me, just what I'm going for. But then, something shifted and deepened. I received a partial message from the core of my being: "This is why...."
That's it, just three words that from the outside don't seem very informative. Yet, I felt very clear on their significance. The This was the act of meditation and the mental state I was in. The why was why everything in my life that had been confused, stifled, out of balance, and inauthentic had happened. All that stumbling had led me to the moment of realization — however unformed — "This is why." I repeated the phrase silently in my mind over and over — arms still aloft — feeling elated, feeling the greatest sense of who I am I'd ever felt.
So, here's the AHA... not that I should never read or attend trainings again, but, at least some of my collected inspiration, should be in my own words, originating from my inner voice.
Words of Inspiration, Starting With My Own
Listen to your inner voice and trust it — even the messages that aren't fully formed yet. — Cate Baily
To throw down our masks and find our real face, a face that knows no shame, a fearless face. To retrieve our original innocence with no pretensions or plans, no past or future, just a fiery spirit... This is soul retrieval, something we all need to do in order to heal an ancient and universal wound. — Gabrielle Roth in Sweat Your Prayers
There's nothing spontaneous and magical about happiness. You have to develop it, participate in it, and knead it like bread in order to feast on it. — Sara Avant Stover in The Way of the Happy Woman
True relaxation is more than keeping your muscles still. It is a state of being in which your actions are aligned with your core beliefs and truth. — Hari Kaur Khalsa in A Woman's Book of Yoga
What we think about ourselves becomes the truth for us. — Louise Hay in You Can Heal Your Life
It's important to understand doing yoga is not just another self-improvement craze. Yoga is not a practice of self-improvement at all. It is a practice of self-acceptance, which is a very different thing. You don't need to be "fixed"; you simply need to reconnect with how wonderful and perfect you already are. Yoga is about remembering who you truly are. — Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa in The 8 Human Talents
What You Can Do
Create your own list of inspiring quotations. Feel free to grab any of mine. If you practice yoga at home and need a little opening up, some beautiful words can be just the thing. And, if you teach yoga, it's handy to have a little notebook of quotations by your side to broaden and deepen your students' experience.
But don't make the mistake I almost made today. Note and value your own insights MORE than anything else you can find in a book or online or from another teacher. Your own inner voice is your best guide.
Create your own list of inspiring quotations. Feel free to grab any of mine. If you practice yoga at home and need a little opening up, some beautiful words can be just the thing. And, if you teach yoga, it's handy to have a little notebook of quotations by your side to broaden and deepen your students' experience.
But don't make the mistake I almost made today. Note and value your own insights MORE than anything else you can find in a book or online or from another teacher. Your own inner voice is your best guide.