Thursday, July 2, 2009

Finding Freedom to become yourself!

"There's a part of every living thing that wants to become itself: the tadpole into the frog, the chrysalis into the butterfly, a damaged human being into a whole one. That is spirituality." Ellen Bass

That is also the journey and practice of yoga--reaching deep inside ourselves to heal and grow and to find freedom in our growth to become greater expressions of our deepest and truest self.

Nothing outside of us can truly help us to become whole, that is a choice we must make. The practice of yoga can empower us to discover strength within that maybe we never knew was there--but ultimately as we find that strength we also have to be willing to use it and grow.

For many of us we give up just as we are about to hit the break through of transformtion--whether we "think" we can longer do something (because it's to hard or laziness kicks in), or quite simply we give up on our spiritual practice because we can't see all that is happening and burgeoning under the surface.

"Just as the caterpillar thought the world was ending it turned into a butterfly"....

Don't give up on yourself--just when you think it's not going to happen, just when you want to give up, just when it all seems like it's not worth it---you begin to spread your wings and fly.

Remember we didn't come here for ease--we came here to grow and Yoga is a tool so kindly given to us to grow. As Sharath Rangaswamy says "Anybody can practice yoga…Except lazy people. Lazy people can’t practice yoga". Yoga is for everyone but you have to choose to do the Yoga.

In practice you can use the tools from the previous post on Muscle and Organic energy to awaken the remembrance of who are and the path to become the you that is truly whole and alive. It is deep and powerful work capable of unleashing a deep and powerful you!

Staying with the theme of ME and OE--read the previous post and then reflect on this:

You hug in to remember and you expand out to become a greater reflection of that deeper truth. You hug in and you find the strength to sustain your journey to become and you expand out to celebrate and encourage others to do the same. You hug in to find your roots and you expand out to rise into a deep and powerful purpose to your life.

This weekend celebrate freedom in all its forms and allow yourself to become the truest expression of brilliance you can be.

“Today you are You, that is truer than true.
There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
Dr. Suess

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Michael :0)
Thank you for sharing this with us...I have a lot of reading to catch up on!
Knowing who we are is knowing well what our energy is capable of and using it to its full potential...I have been meditating on this a lot lately, and the energy that I project being the true me. I can tell through your pics that every pose is energy-filled...this is what I'm striving now. It happens so often that we get stuck in the logistics of the pose or even the breath and are not truly in the present...
Silvy ;0)

jnj said...

Michael,

I feel so privileged to attend your class each week. Reading your blog reinforces what you have shared in the class. Your teaching is always so profound and inspiring. I have many times, when I stuck in the grind of daily life to log in and read your blog, it always bring a different perspective of what I am facing.

You gave each of us a flower on Thur's class, wanting us to seek the beauty. I absent minded left the flower in the car. My husband found the wilted flower yesterday morning and brought it to me, knowing that you have given it to us. I tried to resuscitate it, and it did not look well. I was feeling sad, guilty and left it alone in a vase.

I glanced over the kitchen window this morning, here it is, showing its beauty, standing strong, tall, vibrant and smiling at me, telling me, everything is going to be all right, time to toss my worries, and seek freedom.

Thank you.

Jomie