Yoga is a powerful vehicle for change. Where is it taking you?

I opened up my Yoga Journal magazine this morning - cup of tea, smoothie, and purring cat beside me - the perfect morning, and the editor's letter (by Kaitlin Quistgaard) this month was so down to earth and spot on I thought I would share it with you all.

Road to somewhere. Yoga is a powerful vehicle for change. Where is it taking you?

We often use the word yoga to mean a physical practice, mental discipline, or devotional attitude, but, in my experience, yoga is more than just postures, philosophical tenets, or esoteric ideals. yoga is an opportunity to foster awareness, to really get to know yourself, and,on a practical level, to make conscious choices in your life.

If you cultivate awareness as you move through asanas or meditate, you begin to notice your expectations, reactions,desires, and all kinds o emotional and behavioural patterns. Over time, as you observe patterns that do and don't contribute to your well-being, and as the discipline you develop on the mat flows over into the rest of life, you ill often find yourself making healthier choices. This is such a common phenomenon that yoga has become celebrated as an agent of positive change.

But yoga itself isn't the change agent. You are! Yoga doesn't set intentions for you, nor dictate whether your practice encourages more compassion, or more ego. Yoga is like a language that can be used to communicate a lot of different ideas; it's effect depends on who is speaking it.

In the weeks before this issue went to press, yoga was held accountable in the media for being a potential source of serious injury, and a prominent yoga teach was accused of abusing his role for sexual and financial gain. the subtext of these conversations was that yoga's potential for harm was shocking. "What a minute", the voices said. "Yoga, this practice that is promoted as a source of well-being, can be dangerous or deceptive!".

True. While the conversation might be sensationalized, the underlying message is something to think about. Yoga isn't some benevolent deity as whose feet you can throw yourself and hope to be taken care of. the practice of yoga, like everything in lie, requires you to be discerning, to take responsibility for yourself, to listen to the voices that question whether this instruction is right for your body or whether that behaviour is one that will ultimately benefit you and others around you. Yoga is a powerful vehicle for change. Fortunately, it ca only take you in the direction you're steering. It's essential to reflect on where you want to go.

So there you have it. Wisdom for a Thursday morning. You have a choice. I have a choice. What is the utility of your yoga? What is the intention? This is your choice!
If you have pain in your body, you have a choice! Yoga therapy is a beautiful journey in which control is taken back and collaboration with the physical structure, mental and spiritual body is established! You have a choice to stop fighting your body and start loving it (again). It is your choice.