A few weeks ago, while staying in San Diego, I completed a Yin Yoga teacher training. At the start of the training we took time to go around the room, so that each participant could introduce herself and share why she had come to this teacher training.
Each of us had our own reasons for attending the weekend training.
Beneath the individual reasons was a common pattern: a realization that a “busy” life was not a fulfilling life triggered a decision to slow down and look within.
I have been hearing this from others with increasing frequency. We are collectively craving a time out.
A time to rest. A time to be. A time to explore inward.
This is, after all, what the practice of yin yoga is all about.
In in the stillness, we illuminate who we are beneath the masks. We shed external and internal expectations of who we need to be for others and we reconnect to ourselves and our true nature.
The greatest freedom of all is not material wealth or possessions, but the freedom to be who you are and as you are in this very moment.
This freedom is not a destination. It’s a path of constant permission.
In the practice of Yin Yoga we meet our edge with stillness. Rather than push, we soften. We notice what arises without judgment.
Moment by moment, we engage in this process until we find ourselves emerging renewed and reborn.
If you’re looking for a time to start, this weekend holds an invitation. Passover and Easter align — two holidays, inextricably linked, that celebrate renewal and rebirth and the freedom to be as you are.
Whether on the yoga mat or at your holiday dinner table, I invite you to invoke the power of this question in any moment of emotional or physical discomfort:
Can I allow myself the freedom to be where I am right now, without trying to change things or get to the next place?
May it light your path as you enter this holy weekend of freedom and rebirth.
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