Shri

I was in Tiffaney Wood's Anusara immersion this weekend At The Yoga Vented. Tiffaney talked about shri a Sanskrit word often translated as divine beauty. Tiffaneys definition which I love so much is: when you meet a moment or situation with the appropriate amount of effort and surrender.

I love how this can so easily be applied off of the Tog mat. I can also see that when I can skillfully choose to use more effort or surrender that it does add beauty to my life and the situation I am in. In this way every minute every breath is an oppurtunity for us to create beauty/shrill by consciously dancing with our effort and surrender.

Thinking about surrender I am reminded of ishvara-pranidhana meaning a wholehearted openness to Grace. I can sometimes find myself thinking I am surrendering when in fact I amjust being lazy. However real (nit just lazy) surrender for me is when I can let go of my will, my wants, my presevied needs and instead merge my will with gods will.

"By voluntarily dropping your identification with the limited concept of yourself, you are able to realize your fullest potential. When you offer your heart to God, you won't lose individual power. In fact as you empty out in an unconditional offering, the ocean of Consciousness fills you up. By surrendering, you actually become vastly more powerful than the limitted person that you usually identify with." Anusara Teacher Training Manual

Just like I would be lazy instead of surrender,I would also overly effort which leads to a hardening and percents grace from flowing through me.

I can tell a huge difference and I can feel the shri when I am not being lazy or over efforting and instead have met the situation with balanced effort and surrender



Its always such a pleasure to practice and learn from tiff.