Rhubarb: Forums

Hi everyone,

I felt compelled to write about what it means to me to live a yogic lifestyle.  It’s been years in discovering what this is, and my experience of living yoga is still unfolding.  I’ve been practicing for 9 years and find that this year, perfect as 9 is an ending of a cycle, it feels like I’m really embodying my yoga in an integrated way.  I must give thanks to my meditation teacher, Mada Dalian, here in Vancouver, as she has helped me to experience yoga as I feel it was originally intended. 

Living the union, or the united being that yoga suggests, means that I’m congruent.  I am honest.  I am aware.  I watch the mind, the emotions, and the body.  I watch to see where I am attached; to patterns of thought, to emotions, to any external reward.  Living yoga means that I watch when ego comes up and tempts me to be inauthentic, and I don’t succumb to the temptation.  Living yoga means that I honor my body, I respect my emotions, I allow my thoughts without fighting. It means that I continually surrender and welcome a unified, balanced state.  Doesn’t mean I always experience it by any means!  When I notice ‘yoga’ is absent, I surrender and welcome the experience once again.  Living yoga means allowing changing moments, trusting the body, and continually connecting with the presence in behind all the change. 

It has been such an incredible journey exploring and coming to know myself, I can’t imagine what else could possibly provide the rewards of this process.  No material experience could ever match the peace of acceptance, the peace of living ‘yoga’. 

Keep it coming Existence!

A healthy mind and body have always been important goals for me. I have a well-educated mind and have been a runner off and on for many years. Breathing correctly when running has always been a significant challenge, however. One day I came to the realization I didn’t breathe correctly or frequently during the day. Sometimes I found myself actually holding my breath. This was a rather scary thought. As a middle school teacher, wife, and mother, the day comes at me very quickly and I am a sponge for the issues, concerns, and problems of everyone in my life. The bottom line….I was not breathing. I needed to get in touch with something deeper inside that I had not taken much time to nurture in the past; my spirit. Yoga has allowed me to take time each week to clear my mind so I can nurture my spirit and breathe. It has given me tools I can utilize whenever life becomes overwhelming. Breathing is now an important daily goal for me. But there are other benefits. My posture is improving as is my strength, flexibility, and self-esteem. I feel well guided by the knowledgeable instructors at Living Yoga. I have been challenged and nurtured by these talented individuals all at the same time. At Living Yoga our instructors often thank us for taking the time for yoga practice. I always giggle to myself at these times because I see my yoga practice as a reward for the hard work of daily living.