Every moment you have is an experience, how you view the experience is possibly more important than the experience, although the experience is vitally important.

Make the best of everything you have that comes your way, and the people you know and meet along the way. Enjoy everything you can and humbly accept the rest.

Life is about understanding, transformation and embracing ourselves as we are in the world as it is. Starting from this point we move as we are into what we will become.

This is why I find the tools of yoga so practical the more I learn how to use them in my life. Harmony and balance, a dynamic interplay of forces, each force requiring a continuous re-adjustment to maintain balance.  Try balancing something on your finger, like a spoon and once you find the point of balance , you will notice it requires minimum effort to continually maintain it’s position. Yoga for me is about learning where this balance point is, and how to maintain it.

As we continually refine and hone our ability to develop and maintain this balance we release more energy, and effort becomes effortless, we can do as we need, thereby allowing us to make the most of who we are, how we are and what we can do becomes spontaneous and more enjoyable. We become less attached and less adverse to what comes our way, although we will still have likes, dislikes and opinions, we may see them for what they are, transitory interactions rippling through who we are. This process of course shows much about who we are, and this is why I like Swami Vivekenanda when he says “Experience is the only teacher we have”.

Yoga isn’t just about sitting or standing on a mat and putting your body in odd positions, although these are very powerful and effective. The yoga tradition has so many other tools available that it caters for people of all dispositions and backgrounds.

Copyright © 2009 Russell Smithers