(A picture of 70 year old Dharma Mittra)

Namaste!

Surprisingly, it’s a cloudy day here in Dallas. I was imagining sunshine, but it’s nice to feel a little more justified in retreating within today.

It’s been a busy Spring already. This weekend I’ll be attending a Yoga workshop with Master Yogi, Dharma Mittra. He couldn’t be here at a better time to impart wisdom, inspiration and guidance. Speaking of Spring, I’ve been having an insight into the cyclical nature of all things, which in Yoga is called Vinyasa. A Vinyasa, which is also a popular style of Hatha Yoga, is anything with a beginning, middle and end. Everything in life is a Vinyasa, a cycle…each breath we breathe, each day, each month, each season, year, etc. The Yogis realized the significance of the seasons which is why, for millennium, they have been honoring the seasonal shifts with the ritual practice of 108 repetitions of Sun Salutations, Mantra, minutes of Meditation, etc. 108 is a significant number in Catholocism, as well, with 108 beads on the rosary. The sun is 108 times bigger than the size of the Earth…there are many other qualities to the number 108 which you can read about here…

What’s really been resonating with me this Spring, for the first time ever, is how important it is to honor each phase of a Vinyasa, i.e. the beginning, the middle, and the end. So, that means we have just completed the beginning part of the Vinyasa of Spring with the beginning phase of the cycle ending on April 20th. I have been growing in many powerful ways since the beginning of Spring, and even since the end of the Winter Vinyasa. OK, so this might get confusing here…but, in the beginning part of the end phase of the Winter Vinyasa, (so, the week before February 21st) I began activating many powerful changes for myself and my Yoga practice. These changes have given me a lot of energy and inspiration over the last couple of months. Last weekend, I began feeling fatigued…as I went throughout the week this week, I started to realize why. Not only have I been healing from a lot, including the passing of my father which is still incredibly intense and hard to believe he passed away only 5 months ago, but there have been many other changes I’ve been growing through, including finding the will and determination within myself to grow and strengthen during challenging times. (as we all have been challenged to do) As I mentioned in a previous post, since the beginning of the end of the Winter Vinyasa, I’ve been meditating daily, practicing Yoga consistently, including hot Yoga at least weekly, eating even healthier and being more active. These actions have been giving me much energy and inspiration, but when I started to feel tired last weekend I realized I would need to take time to rest. Essentially, I’d been going, going, going for about two months, including teaching Yoga workshops/classes several of the weekends. One of the blessings of loving my work is it doesn’t feel like work. There are times when I look back and realize I haven’t taken much time to rest…which is not what Yoga teaches. In fact, Patanjali says one of the obstacles on the path of Yoga is overexertion, as well as, overeating and overtalking. At first when this came up for me this week, I could only remember the overeating and overtalking and was thinking the 3rd obstacle was laziness. But, ironically, it turns out it is overexertion which is a really profound awareness to have in how important it is to not overdo and take time to rest.

So, I made that commitment to myself that I would take time to rest this week and so I am. It has been healing and cathartic to take time to be, breathe and feel everything I have been through and am growing through. As I made this choice for myself, I realized that perhaps what I was feeling was in some way connected to the phases of the Spring Season/Vinyasa. Anytime we complete one of the phases of a Vinyasa, it is significant. And, we just completed the beginning phase of Spring on April 20th. If you were feeling tired this week, there’s a good chance it’s because you have needed to take time to feel the profoundness of what you’ve grown through, even just since the beginning of Spring on March 20th. From now on, I am going to be more mindful of what I’m feeling as I approach the 20th/21st of any month, because at that time we are completing one of the phases, either the beginning, middle or end, of the seasonal Vinyasa. So, as May 20th approaches, I will be more conscious to remember what it is I’ve grown through over the middle phase of Spring. And, as Summer arrives on June 21st, I will be teaching a special Summer Solstice class at exhale to honor the powerful ending of one season and the significant new beginning of the Summer Season/Vinyasa.

May the middle phase of the Spring Vinyasa be filled with expanding Light, Love and Consciousness…

Om Shanti!