A Yogi

A yogi; 

for me, it's all yoga, what I write about, teach, how I make my living, and my greatest passion to talk of, it's yoga in its truest fashion, and I consider myself a yogi. I once mentioned this to a friend who taught Hatha yoga, the physical postures that make up a branch of yoga, and was rebuked for my position. For her yoga was centered almost exclusively on asanas, the physical benefits, and the emotional and psychological benefits followed from there. This largely seems to be the westernized approach and perhaps it was by design, that the original Yogi's coming to the West believed that the physical aspect was best suited for our temperament of mind, and that once established, we would find our way to the higher teachings of yoga. My own first exposure was from a book with illustrated poses described, designed and marketed as a teach yourself method and the other branches were briefly described, but the bulk of the book was made of postures and the benefits that they offered. I was only a kid, and yet fully captivated, teaching myself asanas, working through the book, and practicing in a halting manner, weeks at a time followed by long stretches were I put the practice aside for a long list of other interest. 

yet yoga had a hold on me. 

and never let me go. 

so I consider myself a yogi, and jokingly tell people that I'm not the bendy kind, although I do practice a series of asanas on a regular and committed basis. What I do is teach meditation, pranayama, having studied these and practiced for decades, certified by my own respected teacher. This is the yoga of Patanjali, the ancient sutras designed to truly understand ourselves through the means of breath and meditation, that the ultimate aim of yoga is the realization of who we really are. 

to be a yogi is to be committed to this realization. 

in essence than, and indeed in practice, my everyday point is to show myself as a yogi, not in any overt way, but in a joyful approach through all I do, everything I write, my relationships, my passion for physical expression through various means of motion - the realization is that it's all yoga, every bit of it, a divine union of the universe channeled to the very moment of my performance. I'm a yogi by design, we all are, each of us being an instruments of a grand cosmic display of light and order. 

the traditional greeting and closure of every yoga class is namaste, a salutes and recognition of the divine light within us all. This is the essence of yoga, the realization of this light, always present, and the very essence of who we truly are and through everything we do - it's light, divine, a union of cosmic proportions gathered exactly where we are...

namaste. 

~

Peace, Eric