Getting out of the Box

Empowered Yoga was founded on a simple yet profound premise—you have the ability to wake up to your life right now. All of our experience is created by our minds. We are primarily responsible for the pain and stress we create in our lives and the lives of those around us. Most of this pain is due to living life on automatic pilot and reacting to life in habitual ways that are ingrained within us from past conditioning. We get caught in a box and the box can suffocate us.

Each of our brains is wired in a unique way. By becoming present and learning to observe our thinking from a non-judgmental standpoint we can begin to see the way we are wired. It is important to observe our reactions from witnessing perspective so that we can come to fully own who we are. If we get caught up in judging ourselves then we risk falling into a dual mindset.

Practice becomes a process of making friends with ourselves and owning all the aspects of who we are. It is by fully owning who we are that life becomes more workable. Our habitual thought patterns become more palpable and this develops the very ground to work with them. When we judge ourselves we never fully own our minds—by judging ourselves we hold ourselves at arms length further perpetuating and ingraining the thoughts.

In order to choose wisely we need to develop awareness. More specifically we need to develop more precision and intimacy with the present moment. It is within this precision that we can learn to identify thought patterns that no longer serve us and create unnecessary suffering within our lives. We can also become aware of thoughts that create and support happiness and joy and learn to invest more attention into these thoughts.

It is in changing the direction of our life that we ultimately begin changing the direction of the lives around us—this is the paradox of personal change. We all would like to see the world change and for things to be more peaceful and more loving. For this to happen we have to begin to work on ourselves. In the words of Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see within the world”

Becoming empowered begins with a profound realization that you do have moment to moment choices within your life. You don’t have to be a slave to past conditioning. You don’t have to be a victim. You can chose wisely and compassionately to change your life’s direction. All of this can happen by simply making a commitment to pay attention and observe how you are relating to what is happening.

Traveling Man

Over the past three weeks I have been traveling. I was in Italy with my family and then teaching in Costa Rica and Las Vegas for two weeks. All in all I feel very fortunate to be able to step away from business and my family.

With this being said I am very glad to have been given the life I have. I am a home-body and I prefer being at home verses on the road. Occasional trips are fun yet after expereincing three weeks in a row I have had my fill.

I have a lot of compassion and respect for people that have to travel a lot. I was on planes, trains, automoblies and ships. Traveling can really test your patience and show you who you are. We got lost in Italy a few times, I missed a plane in Charlotte and sat next to a guy heading to Las Vegas who sniffled for four straight hours wiping his nose with his hand.

To me these are the greatest tests of yoga--when life is just not going your way. How do you react? Can you discover peace amongst discomfort? I fared pretty well yet I have a long way to go. At times I felt enlightened and at other times I felt like freaking out--isn't that the way life goes?

I will post another blog tomorrow and get back to one a week now that I am home.