Thought Yoga

I’ve practiced yoga for about twenty years, and I’ve taken one class or another about twice a week during this time. That’s a lot of hours. You’d think there would be nothing much new happening. That’s what mind would say. But (as I keep learning) mind is often wrong. My body loves it when I ask it to repeat movements it understands internally. Then body (and mind) settle into a peaceful and deep connection. Yoga has taught me that. 

Yesterday, as my body found its way from a Child Resting to Warriors One through Three to Triangle to Dogs and Dolphins and Pigeons, there was a felt sense of familiarity mixed with curiosity about what I would discover.  Yoga has given me this.

I notice that holding to a clear pattern of questioning does the same thing for the mind itself. As I ask questions it knows (by holding to Byron Katie’s work, in my own practice), my mind relaxes and opens. Although tension and resistance comes up at first, when I ask each question, it begins to stretch. I often notice that the Universe itself opens as I “relax into the pose” and open to the possibilities that are usually far kinder and truer than anything I could have imagined.

When I’m “off the mat,” or having my day, there’s a more satisfied mind, at peace and living in a kinder universe. Thought yoga continues to teach me this. It’s like that.