Every so often I will take time to read through the teacher's blogs on the Pure Yoga website. Before the opportunity to teach with exhale spa opened up, I truly believed I was going to be heading over to Southeast Asia last year to teach with this company and their studios.

As I was browsing through the website yesterday, I stumbled upon Yogananth's blog. I found a link to photographs of him performing Asanas for his first ever coffee table Yoga book, which he has recently published. You've got to check these pics out...they will blow your mind!

I've got to say, I felt slightly inferior in my own Yogic ability after viewing these pictures. Since then, I've brought it into perspective and can see the awe-inspiring beauty of his physical ability. I came to learn that Yogananth has been practicing Yoga since the age of 2...simply remarkable. As one fellow Yogi said best...

"He makes our bodies feel stiff and old! His elegance in the asanas has no comparison." - Alex

Yet, why is it we continue to compare ourselves, whether it is in the Asanas in Yoga class or in life? As I've said many times before, the Asanas are a gateway, and in Yoga, there are many ways to open the gates to the Immortal Self and to the ever-present Divinity within one's Self and in Life Itself. And, this growth and evolution can not be measured, but only felt and known from within. It is the silent communion of Atman, the Individual Spirit within, and Brahman, the Universal Spirit or God. Just because we can perform a certain pose does not mean we are enlightened or better or further along the path than the next person. And, where we are in relation to our neighbor is irrelevant. The picture here is of Patricia Walden in Vrschikasana I, otherwise known as Scorpion Pose. This is a pose I've been practicing growing into for over a year. In Light on Yoga, Iyengar writes about this pose and the mental/emotional awakening one realizes through practicing it. (Again, practicing Vrschikasana is only one of many ways to dissolve the ego.)

"The asana has also psychological significance. The head which is the seat of knowledge and power is also the seat of pride, anger, hatred, jealousy, intolerance and malice. These emotions are more deadly than the poison which the scorpion carries in its sting. The yogi, by stamping on his head with his feet, attempts to eradicate these self-destroying emotions and passions. By kicking his head he seeks to develop humility, calmness and tolerance and thus to be free of ego. The subjugation of the ego leads to harmony and happiness." - Light on Yoga, Iyengar

Imagine, these self-defeating thoughts and emotions, as Iyengar says, are more deadly than the poison of a scorpion. Realize there is no comparison to you, not because of a pose you can do, or how good of a parent you are, or how successful you are in your career, but simply because the Immortal Spirit and Light within your Soul is brilliant, unique and incomparable.

"I exist as I am, that is enough,
If no other in the world be aware, I
sit content,
And if each and all be aware, I sit content".-Walt Whitman

"We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open." - Shakti GawainRead more