Sunday, June 29, 2008

Death of your Yoga Goals

The death of the ego.


One of the hardest things about Yoga is the lack of competition. We have become accustomed to measuring ourselves up against a standard or another individual. I would be lying if I said it was easy for us to go to a Yoga class and not look at the other students there and compare our own abilities to them. Being teachers, it is very difficult to not be the best all the time.

Saffron has become much better at it then I have. Perhaps having been in competition for so many years as a professional dancer gave her the incentive to move on from it. Comparing or competing against others does have its merits , however, not in very many places.

Think of the workplace, colleagues competing against each other for rank or favour creates animosity and secrecy. The opposite that any successful company would choose to foster. Synergy and teamwork will always be more productive and profitable.

What about family. The media regularly reports of the family squabbles over who gets what and how much. One can only imagine the joy found at those family reunions.

So what does this have to do with our practice? Everything. Our regular practice will pit us against our internal enemies. The ones that tell us we are not good enough just as we are. That we have to be compared against someone or something weaker. The regular practice of Yoga will open up the real you and that is the biggest challenge we could every face. Know thyself. The only real accomplishment we can keep in our life is the mastery of ourselves. Comparing ourselves to someone or something external from us will lead to defeat sooner or later.

Do we have to accomplish all of the complex postures with ease? Of course not. Yoga is a practice. The whole purpose is to see who we can be during the process of challenge, the journey. It is where we spend our whole life anyway.

Byron

Friday, June 27, 2008

The Challenge of Change

Human nature almost inherently despises change. We constantly seek to find a level where we can just coast. Whether it is in our education, career, even our health, we believe that as long as we do all the hard work now we will be free and clear later.

We all can admit that when our normal daily routine is disrupted we tend to feel like the day just didn't flow right. When our life goals and plans don't pan out, we feel devastated.

Funny thing is, change is one of the few things you can absolutely count on. Change in seasons, in relationships, jobs, locations, and probably the hardest to take, change in the body. There is hope! Suffering only comes when we resist it, fight it, hold on to our past or future ideals. The tighter we hold on the more it hurts when we are ripped from our cozy quarters. Nothing is permanent, it is all changing.

Just notice the next time something is not going exactly as you expected it to. Pay attention to what you may be resisting, then, as the Zen Buddhist saying goes, "Float like a leaf on the river of life".

Byron

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Starting post of Daily Yoga Practice

We always seem to be excited about something, maybe we are just too excitable. We hope to have some fun with this new blog.

We want to help create the awareness of the great things that are possible with commitment to a daily practice.

In this blog we hope to outline some of the obstacles that can and do come up for us all. This isn't meant to be another monologue so speak up! Let your voices be heard. We have allowed this blog to accept anonymous comments so that you can speak openly.

We do choose to edit comments that feel are not appropriate for the purposes of this site, however we will explain the reasons for doing so.

Let's take care of ourselves.
Saffron and Byron Selorme