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OCTOBER 25, 2009:  "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think...WOW I can't believe I'm here. This is so wonderful!" (Leslie Darin, Historian) Thank you to all those that are young at heart that share this attitude.  I want to bow humbly to 57 year old nurse yogi that had a brilliant conversation with me after class yesterday afternoon. She had broken her neck in freak running accident but 10 years later was on the yoga mat, young in spirit, beautiful in her energy. Thank you for inspiring me!

 

“To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, it’s all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle.” (Artur Rubinstein) Seriously isn’t it amazing we all woke up today breathing and

When I started practicing what I had heard was that Yoga was said to be the fountain of youth. That we are only as old as our spine is flexible. I was completely intrigued thinking how could this be?  Well on our birthday’s different yoga traditions actually celebrate by moving the spine. Some lineages do as many Sun Salutations as the years you are old, other traditions do the same number of backbends as you are old.  Well to cover all my bases, I do both.

PART 1:  How does this practice help you stay young, LIVE YOUNG?

Take a moment to write down 3 times in your life when you have felt the most alive.  Skiing, exploring a new city, quiet of nature, being with another person… Why is that you felt so alive? Were you completely focused? YES! You were completely engaged in the experience, you were in the flow which means you were in the present moment.  You could fully appreciate all that was taking place without being totally distracted by past or future.

PART 2:  How do I LIVE YOUNG every moment?
Answer:  Is to practice active appreciation.  The Dalai Lama says “The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.”  Find something amazing about what is happening right now.  Take what is ordinary and turn into something extraordinary whether it is your Downward Dog or drinking a cup of tea.  I fully believe every day can be turned into something special.  Recently I celebrated Christmas in October.  Why not?  Why do we have to wait for December why not bring the feeling of the holiday spirit a little sooner into the year?  You see we can take any situation and find something to appreciate.  Happy people are aware of this and put it into practice.  Happy people really aren’t any different that the rest of us, they just live in the present and have gratitude for whatever is being offered.

Yogic teachings tell us that our natural state is one of happiness.  So when we talk about yoga as the fountain of youth it is maybe because happiness feels lighter, brighter and more youthful. There appears from the inside out a radiance or inner body brightness that glows outwardly.  It is true, we are as young as we feel.  Why not feel happy?  It is never too late, we are never too old to believe in the possibility of things.

For a long time I wanted life to be different than what it is.  This put me in a state of stuckness asking repeatedly “why did that have to happen, why are things like this” or it made me fast forward life trying to get away from what is and put it behind me.  Either way I started missing years of my life. I was missing the moments.  In the book “How to Choose to be Happy” it is written “It’s a physical fact that no matter what happened an hour ago, a week ago or what might happen in a year happiness can ONLY be felt now in this moment.”  Or as the Buddha says “The secret of health for both the mind and body is not to mourn the past, not to worry about the future nor to anticipate troubles but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.” 

Once I figured that out my face softened and I felt lighter, younger and more ALIVE.  I made a conscious choice from that point to LIVE YOUNG. Why not?  Love to you, Silvia