Spiritual Awakening

When I started practicing yoga 7 years ago my mission was to heal my broken body, quite literally a broken back and a hurt knee. Yoga healed me right up. But it also started to plant some seeds in me about being more connect with myself, with others, with nature, with spirit. After my body healed instead of going back to my extreme sports where I continued to hurt myself I started practicing more yoga, and being more loving toward myself and others. Instead of being extremely competitive and jealous of others. A few years later I found Anusara Yoga.

Anusara yoga is a very physical practice. I learned to really use my gross body (gross as in muscles, bones, solids mass of the body). I learned how to squeeze my muscles and become more solid, how to broaden my hips and shoulders, how to tuck my tailbone, how to lengthen and extend out. I learned how to layer these physical commands, for example hug in here, rotate this up, scope this down reach from here to here all at the same time. So yes, the practice of Anusara yoga can be a very physical experience.

One reason having such a physically based alignment practice is so beneficial is it address injuries, areas of pain and tension. When we have these feelings in the body it is harder to connect to spirit and to experience all the beauty in the word. This kind of practice helps bring our body into a place of ease allowing our awareness to move from say, the throbbing pain in your stick neck to the pretty your breath and the mountains that surround you.

In Anusara the first universal principle of alignment is Open To Grace. When I do this I remind myself that this is so much bigger then what is happening on my yoga mat and in my muscle bodies. That I am so connected to this one source of power call it Grace, God, Great Out Doors, Science.... what ever you want to call it.

Looking back I smile  at how I started practicing yoga to fix my back and now I practice because I want to be a better person to myself, to others, to serve the earth, and connect with my higher power. I also see it happen other yoga students. They start practicing because they are in pain or want to lose weight and they end up practicing for so much more.

I found this on facebook and thought it was funny and I can see a lot of these changes happening in my life.