real life yoga

I believe it was Yogi Swami Satchidananda said something to the extent of, "Enlightenment feels like space in the joints." In my case recently, enlightenment has felt like space in my sinuses.

Last week my yoga practice transitioned from flowing and inverting to laying horizontal on my couch, feeling all of the congested feelings. I know that what we resist persists, but the over-achiever in me was NOT having it, especially because I get antsy when I can't move my body.

A few years ago I found myself venting to an Integrative Nutrition coworker about not being able to practice asana when I was recovering from a month-long case of what might have been pneumonia [I promise New York has been kind to me in other ways...]. I was beside myself with frustration, and she simply consoled, "Maybe THAT [feeling, resting, recharging my batteries] is your yoga right now." 

Partly due to the growing obsession with athleisure and wellness, we can tend to generalize a skewed perception of what we believe to be yoga: pretzel poses, tree-huggers blissed out in meditation, all the peace love and happiness all the time. This is not wrong, but it is a hugely small piece of the yoga pie.

Yoga at its essence is a practice of awareness to slow the churning monkey mind, and as a result maybe connect to the truest version of our Self. It is comprised of eight limbs, of which asana [physical practice/postures] is only one. Other limbs include breath work and meditation. It is a steady process on the path to oneness, or union, not necessarily to be mastered but to continually come back home to.

Click here to read the full post, including my thoughts on why yoga is a lifestyle and a constant practice of being in the moment, even if the moment stinks.

Life happens, and it's not always desirable. The tools yoga provides might not "fix" us or the moment or whatever we want out of, but it will keep us present.

When we can be present with our Selves when we're congested or feeling blue or totally neutral, we are offering our body the attention it deserves and craves. That's what that blissed out post-asana face is saying: thanks for taking time to witness me in the moment, you're doing a great fucking job, I love you unconditionally, I fully accept you/the moment/this life/this body. Whatever we want it to say.

How do you practice yoga, and how does it work for you?

Read on for a special retreat treat, my clean and simple soup recipe, good tunes and more.

Photo above: wearing Hyde organic cotton yoga apparel at Lucent Yoga in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.