First Class Free

May 19, 2010, Tonight we focused on hugging in to our center. To cultivate that awareness of our own best strength.  And what is inner strength really? Well it is love, that’s all.  "We are kept from the experience of Spirit because our inner world is cluttered with past traumas....As we begin to clear away this clutter, the energy of divine light and love begins to flow through our beings."   -Thomas Keating

We experienced this return to ourselves through a series of poses and mantras flowing through the elements such as:

Earth: I am grounded

Fire: I am rising        

Air: I am free

When our minds and hearts are scattered in their energy we lose track of self-love and it always starts there in laying the foundation for a healthy life.  So we come to the mat to rebuild.  Beginning with the earth element and drawing nutrients and support from the earth to help us return to stillness. The healing then expands and as we return to our center by engaging principals of alignment such as hugging to the midline and muscular energy we return to our most powerful selves. We feel the confidence and enthusiasm of the third chakra. There is an aliveness and energy that expands out and up!  And from there we connect to the air element of the fourth chakra feeling the lightness and freedom that are our true nature.  We are once more in the home of our hearts, we are in love with ourselves and with our lives.  You see inner strength is love…that’s all.  With metta, Silvia

Monday May 17, 2010, SO WHAT COMES NEXT? I am so inspired by life, my students, my friends to bring the best yoga ever this week! I thought we'd dedicate this week to The Power of Grace and how we can tap into our own inner strength to face the unknown of life. Marianne Williamson says: "When we surrender to (Grace) we surrender to something bigger than ourselves - to a universe that knows what it is doing."

The key words I’m meditating on this week are:

GRACE
INNER STRENGTH

UNKNOWN

This idea of Opening to Grace is a term often associated with yoga practice. It is a way of living life with an open-hearted attitude of infinite possibility and universal support.  A way of seeing the world as being on our side and not against us.  I especially like this expression of "Opening to Grace" from Marianne Williamson's book, "A Return to Love".

"To open to Grace is to ask that only loving, helpful thoughts remain in our minds, and all the rest be let go".  When we surrender to (Grace) we surrender to something bigger than ourselves - to a universe that knows what it is doing. When we stop trying to control events they fall into a natural order, an order that works. We're at rest while a power much greater than our own takes over, and it does a much better job than we could have done. We learn to trust the power that holds galaxies together can handle the circumstances of our relatively little lives".

So you see this is a yogic paradox, to open and let go all at the same time. But it makes sense, we have to create space for what comes next but none of us knows exactly what that is. We are for sure co-creating with the universe but even with our hand on the tiller going along in our little boat we don’t know what the current of grace has in store for us. It requires a great deal of our own best strength to commit to participating in our lives with both feet in and simply believe that that in if we wake up the dream will be our reality.  Or in the words of Krishna Das, “Grace wakes us up when we are asleep, brings light to where there is darkness and removes obstacles from our path”. us up when we are asleep, brings light to where there is darkness and removes obstacles from our path”.  Join me and take that next step into your best life ever!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life, Silvia