Awareness
At the beginning of every yoga class I talk about awareness during the warm-ups, I feel awareness can be trained and improved in anyone. Awareness is the natural domain for yoga. The mind-body connection in yoga naturally develops awareness in the practitioner.
In warm-ups we pay attention to sensation in the bottoms of the feet as we develop Mountain Pose. We are instructed to stop with any sensation of pain, “pain is a red light” and we are cautious with the feeling of sensation, “sensation is a yellow light”.
The whole practice is focused on being mindful of our bodies and the feelings of the various yoga asanas. and allow the body to take you into the now. This makes the whole asana practice a moving meditation with all of the relaxation benefits of being in the present moment.
At the end of the yoga class we are guided to relax the body and observe the thinker to again deepen the participant’s awareness experience.
Ultimately the goal is to bring yoga into everyday life, so that every moment of every day one is practicing yoga. The yoga practice in everyday life is that of mindfulness, being and growing the awareness of one’s whole person. The practice of mindfulness, awareness improves it in every part of our lives, just like exercising makes the body stronger and more muscular.
I feel with the practice of yoga awareness I become more aware of my body and more aware of my surroundings. I feel the awareness gets me closer to witnessing the perfection of the miracle of life and how it manifests in every par of our lives. I see all of the wonderful humbling lessons of life like driving in Boston traffic, learning to practice compassion and awareness while applying the break to avoid the other cars.
The lesson is always the same, more compassion and love for self and others. Seeing that we are all related and that the lessons we get in our lives are the perfect lessons we need right now. No matter how harsh it may seem at the time. It is the same for others and even those you love. Everyone has lessons and we need to let them have their lessons as we have ours.