How Do You Spell Yoga? G-R-A-C-E
Did you catch the national Spelling Bee results last week? An eighth-grader from California won it all when he spelled 'appoggiatura' correctly.
An appoggiatura, for those of you who are not musicians, is a grace note. It's a little preface to the main note that embellishes it. It enhances its beauty and function in a musical phrase.
Ever notice that some days your yoga practice is dry and uninspired? Your body doesn't feel right. Or you're tired. Or, frankly, you'd much rather be doing something else.
Maybe it's because you're doing your practice by rote or out of obligation. So many times I've heard a new-comer to yoga class say, "I don't know anything about yoga, but I hear it's supposed to be good for me." Maybe you're getting on the mat today simply because you have a vague feeling that it's supposed to be good for you.
Today you can get the most out of your practice by looking beyond your levators and love handles. Preface your practice, and each pose, with a grace note, an embellishment, that makes everything more beautiful.
It's the first principle of Anusara Yoga: open to Grace.
When you seriously doubt that this pose will get you any closer to your heart's desire than the 50 before it, stop. Soften your heart. Focus on an intention. What do you want from this practice today?
Then open yourself to Divine intervention. The Grace that has sustained you throughout your whole life rushes in, especially when you are open to it, looking for it, and acknowledging it.
Before I finish up today, I just want to say that much of what I write about seems like a trick, something you can do to 'shortcut the system' so you get what you want quicker than those who don't know. It's what a computer whiz might call a hack. You're getting around the system.
Opening to Grace is not a trick. It's a discipline. It's something you can repeat with devotion and focus over and over again. It's like pushing the re-set button. It lets you see the good once again in everything that's around you.
Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!
Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org
p.s., The young man who won the Spelling Bee is Anurag Kashyap. Anurag in Sanskrit means 'a high form of love...like the love of music,' according to Wiktionary. I find that dwelling on thoughts of people who have loved me with the highest sacrificial love, always opens my heart.
Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
An appoggiatura, for those of you who are not musicians, is a grace note. It's a little preface to the main note that embellishes it. It enhances its beauty and function in a musical phrase.
Ever notice that some days your yoga practice is dry and uninspired? Your body doesn't feel right. Or you're tired. Or, frankly, you'd much rather be doing something else.
Maybe it's because you're doing your practice by rote or out of obligation. So many times I've heard a new-comer to yoga class say, "I don't know anything about yoga, but I hear it's supposed to be good for me." Maybe you're getting on the mat today simply because you have a vague feeling that it's supposed to be good for you.
Today you can get the most out of your practice by looking beyond your levators and love handles. Preface your practice, and each pose, with a grace note, an embellishment, that makes everything more beautiful.
It's the first principle of Anusara Yoga: open to Grace.
When you seriously doubt that this pose will get you any closer to your heart's desire than the 50 before it, stop. Soften your heart. Focus on an intention. What do you want from this practice today?
Then open yourself to Divine intervention. The Grace that has sustained you throughout your whole life rushes in, especially when you are open to it, looking for it, and acknowledging it.
Before I finish up today, I just want to say that much of what I write about seems like a trick, something you can do to 'shortcut the system' so you get what you want quicker than those who don't know. It's what a computer whiz might call a hack. You're getting around the system.
Opening to Grace is not a trick. It's a discipline. It's something you can repeat with devotion and focus over and over again. It's like pushing the re-set button. It lets you see the good once again in everything that's around you.
Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!
Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org
p.s., The young man who won the Spelling Bee is Anurag Kashyap. Anurag in Sanskrit means 'a high form of love...like the love of music,' according to Wiktionary. I find that dwelling on thoughts of people who have loved me with the highest sacrificial love, always opens my heart.
Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.
posted by Kevin at 7:01 PM
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