LOVE IS A SKILL
FEBRUARY 10, 2010: I again today was inspired by Us Weekly and People magazines. If you look at the cover each week there is always someone angry at someone else and then there’s a story about love gone wrong – and tantalizing unkind things related to that. So here’s the thing if you practice being mean you get really good at being mean, if you work hard to be angry you’re getting skilled at being angry, if you are always sarcastic your sarcasm skills will bloom, if you speak to yourself internally with negativity you’re going to get really skilled at putting yourself down.
Love is a skill too. If you practice love, move like love, think loving thoughts, behave in a loving way then you’ll get really good at this too.
Yoga presents us with the opportunity on the mat to hone this Love Skill on ourselves first. Yoga is first and foremost a practice of self-love. And the time we set aside for us to work on Self-Love.
“Love is a skill, a precious skill that can be learned. There are many other skills that are useful, even necessary, but in the end, nothing less than learning to love will satisfy us. The saints and mystics tell us that life has only one overriding purpose: to discover the source of infinite love and then to express this love in daily living. Without love, life is empty; without love, life is meaningless. The only purpose which can satisfy us completely, fulfill all our desires, and then make our life a gift to the whole world, is the gradual realization of the Self (LOVE) within, which throws open the gates of love. We cannot dream what depth and breadth of love we are capable of until we make the discovery that this divine spark lives in every creature.” —Eknath Easwaren
With Valentines day approaching think of this practice as being your OWN valentine. And then thank yourself for practicing yoga, each moment of yoga is the best expression of RADICAL SELF-LOVE. Rock on with that. Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia