Can you find stillness and not stiffness?

stillness

Can you find stillness and not stiffness?

Yoga is, no doubt, a great place to work on this. Some yoga classes are all about moving fluidly with your watery nature, as you, like a dance, find your way to balance. This can help with flow in life, moving with the body we are dealt in life and becoming one with it.

life and chaos

Life brings chaos and challenge sometimes. A challenging yoga class can help you mimic this challenge and give you the chance to relax into it. You can come out ahead of the game with your head on your shoulders.

Ashtanga yoga, invigorating and fast-paced, can be a place to find stillness and calm. Sutra 2.46 Sthira-sukham-asanam seeks the balance between firmness and softness. A serious voice that instructs while also inviting you to find softness in the strength is important, especially in your neck and trapezius muscles that support your neck—a common place to hold tension. 

expansion and contraction

Can you find the perfect balance between expansion and contraction of your muscles so that the end result is soft and still? If you cannot, your yoga could be harming you. Better yet, can you find it in your mind and spirit? It takes patience to traverse your oceans of time...

Other activities such as surfing require focus and strength. Learning how to ride nature's gem—the ocean—allows you to give yourself to it. It is pure fluid so you have no choice but to move with it. Can you find the strength in your muscles to protect you, fuel you, and help you get the most enjoyment possible, while still remaining soft and fluid, especially in the back of your neck?

Try this sitting at your computer typing while heavily and emotionally involved in your topic. What if you are in the physical presence of a person who makes you feel insane? Are you able to stay balanced, soft and supple?

Take a step back and feel your tension. Then remember that the key lies in softening, not in tension that only feeds anger. It is easier said than done, but eventually it can be a natural response.

Yoga and other mindful activities can be a container for life's journey. Your yoga practice can be a container for your spirit & psyche, and it can be a phenomenal experience at that!  

Ultimately, you can be real. It is the answer.  

silence is a source of great strength
~ Lao Tzu

© 2010 Yoga Robin^®

Comments

[aryaarpit]

I really have to say that you have done a fantastic work. The things have been explained in a very innovative way. Like to see you again writing some like that.
online yoga videos

[robin the dreamer]

some day... thanks for the encouragement...