Practice of Yoga – The practice of Union – uncovers the joy that is the essence of life!

by coming close to the breath – you come close to yourself.

you let go of all your baggage and clutter and receive yourself.

Time and time again in life we feel lost, out of touch with ourselves. i think this is one of the scariest feeling we experience in life, loosing sense of self or Purusha.

Through my practice of yoga I connect to the body in movement and awareness, I come in touch with the breath and bring my attention to the present moment. Here in the present Magic literally occurs. I feel whole. I feel connected. I feel found.

I realise Yoga is a rooting down. a deep connection to the earth. In Savasana or Supta Baddha Konasana we feel the earth, we notice we are not separate from the earth, we are not separate from anything. Rather we a supported, connected, and held by all of life. Regularly remembering that we are connected and experiencing this connection is vital for our individual and collective sanity.

As modern living continually lifts us away from the earth, through bombarding our senses with desire, sex, power, money and division. we are pushed into the cluttered busy area of the mind. A mind that is often programmed for negative regard.

for many of us we cannot control the mind, many people don’t even identify the mind as seperate from the self, the mind is so strong they assume they are the mind.

It is inevitable, living in negativity and clutter will send us mad, make us feel lonely, isolated and scared of ‘doing life wrong’.

When i feel like this i stop, i acknowledge i am lost and then i get out my mat and i practice. or i practice as i eat, as i walk through london, as i get on the tube as i buy my groceries and listen to my friends i practice.

When people come to class i see a desperate yearning in them to release from this madness.

and surely enough by connecting to the earth, rooting down, giving weight, they arrive. then breathing comes and the breath leads them into being present with the self.

After practice is well established you go beyond simply connecting. from connection you begin to expand.

Expanding body, breath and awareness. as you expand physically and pranic’ally you have the capacity to release all this stuff you do not need. to get out all that no longer serves you. like a mass spring clean!

And then ahhhhhh SPACE arrives, wide, expansive space inside!

And ‘here you are’ in the centre of yourself, with a clear mind and a body full of energy.

As i teach my 15 or so classes a week witnessing this transformation again and again. it never fails to astound me and fill my heart with love for life and this Science of Yoga.

So in the great words of Sri K. Phattabhi Jois “practice and all will come”

Copyright © Alex Hanly 2007-2015