I Don't Want This To End...

As I was standing in the boutique area of Kansas Siddhi Yoga following 108 sun salutations, my long-time friend and healer who had come to KSY for the first time today told me that it was a wonderful space and he really didn't want to leave. I agreed, saying that when I am in that blissful space (outside of me and inside of me), surrounded by people of like mind, I feel so safe...and I know that when I leave the studio, our little cocoon of compassion and caring, I will struggle to feel so centered, so blissful, so safe. Outside of the studio, the world can seem, well, mean.

Of course, the point of spending time on the mat each day (in asana and pranayama and meditation) is that we become what consumes our time and gets our devotion. Whenever I'm tempted to zone out in front of the television for too long, I recall this notion -- we become those things to which we give the most of our energy and attention. Over a lifetime of practicing the fullness of yoga, we become clean and still...and we carry that stillness off of the mat and into the world. And we hope that the purity and stillness we take into the world will begin to transform it, too. But even if it doesn't, we have been transformed by our practice, such that the meanness of the world, while it causes us pain, is not so scary anymore...just as the pleasures of the world don't seem so attractive either. We realize that the source is not outside of us, but rather inside.

So, while I didn't want to leave the space or the people who had prayed bodily with me this morning, I realize that I carry them and the entire experience in my very cells -- and in my energy and my heart. In fact, as I sit here typing this, the prayers I intoned silently with every motion this morning continue to imprint themselves deep inside me, transforming me not only in this moment but for the future as well.

"May all beings with whom we are inseparably interconnected be fulfilled awakened and free. May there be peace in this world and throughout the universe, and may all of us together complete this spiritual journey."

"I dedicate myself to the Lord of Life who is the cause of the cosmos. He will remove the cause of all my suffering and free me from the bondage of karma." (Shvetashvatara Upanishad)

"The Lord said, fix your mind on me alone. Rest your thoughts on me alone and in me alone you will rest hereafter. Of this there is no doubt." (Bhagavad Gita)