Living in Freedom

A few weeks ago we celebrated life. We've been practicing how to live ever since. (And, hopefully, a bit before) Hopefully we can keep that celebratory attitude because living can be tricky. Circumstances will determine the extent to which you have difficulties, but your point of view is going to go a long way to make you more or less stressed. Yoga and its' techniques can help make it a little less challenging. From a fit and flexible body to a calmer, focused mind, yoga is truly a wholistic science.



The idea of freedom in yoga is not only about being physically free. It's not about being free to think whatever you want to think or to live wherever you want to live or to worship however you want to worship. All of those things are necessary to be able to practice in the first place. Freedom in yoga means freedom from suffering. We are free from suffering when we are free of our attachments.
Attachments boils down to an emotional response. We like things that make us feel good, while we hate things that make us feel bad or uncomfortable. This is not about never feeling anything. It's about not being attached to those feelings. Living in freedom means living without conflict. When you make decisions based on old habits instead of on current information, you create conflict within yourself.



This week is all about observation. If you're going to yoga class then chances are that you're there is something about your life that you want to change. Change is impossible without observation. If you don't understand why you make the choices that you make then you're going to continue to make unaware choices that will only perpetuate your suffering. And it can be confusing. You can think that you're looking at things from a different perspective because you've started to take a yoga class regularly, when really you're fooling yourself; reinforcing habits because it's comfortable instead of really challenging yourself to see clearly.


Change up your perspective. Your mind is throughout your whole body. Your brain is your physical control center, but where is your mind? Where do you hold your consciousness? We assume it's in our brain because the brain is still such a mystery. All of your cells hold your consciousness, not just your brain cells. So take your eyes out of the equation. And don't just hang out in whatever hurts. Discover a new area to occupy. How does this shift the way your experience life?


Change can be difficult. I was trimming the dead off of one of my house plants today and it reminded me of the skillful gardener metaphor that I've used before, and enjoy so much. You must let pieces of yourself die in order for the rest of you to grow stronger. Death is a part of life. It is not an end. As you accept the change, you'll begin to notice the trajectory of your life shift. If you resist the change, allowing those useless branches to continue to live, you jeopardize the whole entity. It's when you fear the change that you become stagnant and depressed.


Open to whatever comes up for you in your practice and in your life. Don't analyze or judge. Just be aware.