“Yoga is the journey of the self,
through the self, to the Self.”
- The Bhagavad Gita
What is in a journey? Is it a starting point; a destination; the steps and stations in between? Is it all? Is it none? I guess it’s for each of us to decide on our own! In fact, yoga, as stated, really is just about the exploration of self, as we know it, as the world knows it, and as it truly is independent of perspectives and interpretations.
We often gaze out on to the frontier of our lives and see it as something separate, independent, something we are isolated from. Rather than a reflection of our inner most workings manifest to explore moment to moment, perception to perception, experience to experience. The ancient yogis and rishis made it a science of exploring the inner mechanics of experience, and they came to recognize that the inner matches the outer and vice versa. That we could learn all there is to know about the wild frontier in front of us by exploring the subtle layers that stack, almost infinitely,inward. I think it no coincidence that the protons and electrons orbiting a nucleus of an atom vaguely resemble a solar system within a galaxy. As my teacher Dr. Vasant Lad would say, they are concurrent and inherent; they are cause and effect.
But what does this mean? We’re all here, at least at the root of it all, trying to make sense and rationale of existence, our existence. It means that, if we choose, we can practice yoga, in its truest form, to come to know ourself through a skillful interplay of inward and outward exploration. That our deepest desires, wants, and wishes can all become reality, as soon as we realize that what exists now ALREADY IS reality BECOME of our INNER and OUTER interplay of experience, attention, reflection; consciously and unconsciously participated in. Wow… what can you do with THAT? ANYTHING… you want!
On this day, I will calmly, with as little judgement as possible, look at my life and recognize that all the wanted and unwanted are a result of my inner machina, and that If I want to change anything, I must first explore within to see why it’s there in the first place. Meditation and reflection may prove most helpful in this endeavor.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼