Monday, May 10, 2010

Motivation: Turning inward...

"Turn the mind inward and cease thinking of yourself as the body; thereby you will come to know that the self is ever happy. Neither grief nor misery is experienced in this state."
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi

This goes back to the 'ol "don't just a book by its cover" but pertains to the individual... how we look at ourselves. I have always struggled with this (hence the reoccurring nightmare of losing my teeth - which supposedly means I'm overly concerned about my looks)! Through my consistent yoga practice, I've learned to let go of that and focus on what really matters and what's most important. In my classes I say, "it doesn't matter what we look like while in the postures, but how we feel." This is so true... if our drishti is fluttering around like a buzzing bee, our mind is not still. If we are concerned about how the person next to us looks in a certain posture, or we measure ourselves up to our peers, we are not going to benefit from the practice. We have to look inward, past the physical and learn from what's going on in our minds and in our hearts. This is why I love that the yoga practice is not a competition... if anything it's a competition with the true Self and the ego where we learn to let go. This is where we find true happiness and true freedom. 
~ Namaste


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