Yoga and Healing

Some of the more advanced lessons of yoga are subtle.  Of all the practices perhaps the truest ones are those that are so subtle we take them for granted:  like chances to come together.   It is my deep hope that you will come to the Yoga and Community program this Sunday, November 15th, 2009, at 1:30 pm at the Center at Westwoods (Click the Holistic Conversations link for more information about current programs ; the program above took place in 2009). 

For some time I have perceived a need in our yoga community for people to be able to gather together in a context that supports speaking and listening.  I have seen that  our coming together is more powerful than any practice we perform, or role we inhabit. We are all teachers.

Mitch Barrett: A Drop in The Bucket

Over the last months some of you have heard me speak about how life unfolds, and wise direction emerges, when people talk to each other.  From understanding the needs of a moment, to the deepest questions of the heart, we find our way to answers through being with others and talking in a context that supports hearing and understanding.

Sometimes the resonance of the other puts us in a place to find our path through the perplexing places.  It may simply be through something someone says, or something we see, or a question that is asked, but it’s as if there is some kind of mystical chemistry that underlies our lives – and our togetherness is a powerful mixture.

Asana, Pranayama and all the yogic practices are wonderful tools that hopefully enrich our lives.  But life is not lived on the mat.  Ultimately yoga, like all its cousin practices, must lead us to the power of our selves, and the people around us.  The real challenges of life are human ones:  patience, trust, living with an open heart, learning to manage uncertainty, sometimes fear.  Yoga has subtle lessons to teach about these things, but without community there is not sufficient support to apply them.

As I reflected on the power and importance of community,  I serendipitously came across the video above, which resonates to the same idea -  of how our individual efforts and heart is truly enlarged and best understood when we join together.

I look forward to joining with you on Sunday.

Om Shanti,  Nathan