om body
I started writing this article about Janu
Sirsasana, head-to-knee pose. Then came a
starburst of other yoga ‘J’ words: Jalandhara
Bandha, one of the energy gates within the
subtle body which regulate pranic flow; Jnana
Yoga, the path of knowledge and wisdom;
Japa (Mantra) Yoga, and so on.
But all of those words funneled into one
word: journey. ‘Your yoga path’ is a phrase
heard often in any yoga studio. A path is
where one makes their way by continual
treading. However, treading a yoga path
sounds heavy, as if to march, plod, thump,
stomp and maybe even trample (perhaps this
explains my aversion to treadmills). A journey
is more of a progression, a process of
exploration, and I think of yoga more as this.
Yoga is not for the faint of heart. Like any
journey, truths are discovered to accept,
deny or reject. The body doesn’t lie. The
truth of your practice is in the shapes you
make on the mat. Wherever you are in your
mind’s journey manifests into the shapes
you make on the mat. Of course, even an
endless optimist won’t miraculously resolve
a structural issue. So, we work with what
we’ve got.
Research continues to prove and support
that one’s psychology is just as important
to wellbeing as much as exercise and
eating right.
Yoga figured that out a few thousand yearsago without the aid of technology, labs or
control groups. The narrative in our minds
manifests into the actions we will take on
the mat. These actions, done with enough
repetition, establish habits within our
poses which then shape the posture into
something that is aligned or misaligned,
which defines our journey, perhaps even
the destiny of our practice.
We step on the mat with our individual
intention, our own curious exploration of body,
mind and spirit. Yet we are all there collectively
with the same intention: to deepen our
knowledge of what it is to be this thing called
‘human’, and to journey into the beauty of that
truth. Make sure you enjoy that journey.Yoga A-Z
J is for Journey. By Carole Moritz