Yoga from the Inside Out: Part 2

Christina’s description of the body as the way to reach the Divine is totally contrary to my upbringing, and by that I don’t mean that my parents looked at me and said, “the body is bad.”  It was more like taboo.  There was an overwhelming sensation within my church and my home that the physical side of life, whether it be the functions of the body, physical desires, or physique in general were subjects that God disapproved of and therefore meant to be handled privately.  Now, all of that might be exaggerated since it’s being translated from the memory of an adolescent, but nevertheless it was certainly how I felt growing up.   The idea that the body itself can actually be used to worship God is a new one for me, but it makes complete sense.  I especially loved when Christina was quoting John Friend about how asana specifically can be used to deepen our spiritual understanding and he said, “Without the limitation me might not have a good contrast and so the understanding of the Universal might not be as deep...through that limitation, that contrast, one can really appreciate freedom.”  I have always related this idea to suffering in general.  I know a lot of people ask, “if there is a god, why is there suffering,” and they hate the answer so that we might better understand God’s grace, but that has always been the response that made any sense to me at all.  In fact, I would go so far as to say it’s not just so that we might understand grace better, but so we might be able to understand grace at all.  Taking this concept and relating it back to the limitations of our bodies informing us of freedom is one I had never thought of before, and was somewhat of a revelation for me when I read it.  That statement alone changes the way I view the body simply by giving it a new and deeper purpose.  Another purpose of yoga I hadn’t given much thought to was its ability to train the mind to “live in the moment.”  After thinking about it some, I realized that I really don’t think about anything but the poses while we’re in class.  It’s probably the only class I can say my mind doesn’t wander in, even with the classes I really love and am passionate about.  Christina named a lot of reasons for practicing this skill that I did not realized applied, such as when our mind wanders is when we most often allow ourselves to be self-critical.  I had always loved that the ability to live in the moment would allow me to not waste or take for granted the fleeting time we are given in life, but I never thought of it as a way to better myself.  That learning to be present would could actually help my self-image.  By learning to be aware of when I am bringing myself down or comparing myself to others, I can recognize it and put a stop to it, enabling me to be more confident in who I am both emotionally and physically.