The important work you are doing inside yourself.

Today is International Yoga Day! (Of course, every day is “yoga day” around here.)

Too many people see yoga as a luxury item -- something to be disposed of when finances or schedules are tight. If there’s one thing I want you to know today, it’s this: 

Practicing some form of yoga is not only essential to having a meaningful life, it’s absolutely necessary for a large number of us to practice if we’re going to create and maintain a peaceful, just society.

Practicing yoga is not like other forms of “self care” it tends to get lumped in with. Yoga is not like getting your nails done, taking a bubble bath or even having a massage (though I’m not knocking those things!)

Yoga is not about yoga postures.

When you practice yoga (raja yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, karma yoga, mantra yoga and hatha yoga-- which Bikram Yoga is one style of-- are the 6 main types of yoga) you cultivate Faith, Self-disicipline, Determination, Concentration and Patience within yourself. 

If you’re doing hatha yoga, you’ll get pain relief, increased flexibility and strength and a litany of other physical health benefits too. You’ll improve the quality of your life. Which is amazing! But that’s not all you do.

The ultimate goal of any yoga practice is Self-Realization.

That’s Self with a capital “S.” Your highest Self, the greatest version of who you are. The word realize (v.) means "bring into existence," from French réaliser "make real" (16c.), from Middle French real "actual.")  

Self-Realization means then, bringing your highest Self into existence.

When you practice yoga, you become able to pull the BEST version of yourself out of your pocket when you need it most:

• So you don’t yell at your kids when you’re frustrated with them
• So you can hold space for your loved ones, both in their grief and in their joy
• So when you witness injustice, you speak out against it
• So when you observe wrong thinking in yourself, you seek to improve it

If you keep practicing yoga, that Best Version of You appears more and more frequently. Eventually, the way you live begins to align itself with your full potential. You behave like your Self more often than not. Your Self is the part of you most in tune with nature. It’s the part of you which is connected to all other parts of you, which feels connected to all of humanity and even all of the cosmos. 

Yoga comes from the word “yuj” meaning “to yoke together.”

When you access a place inside yourself where everything is united: mind, body and the rest of the world, that is Self. Because you become aware of the connection between you and all of humanity, Self is where your compassion for others lives. 

If you still think that yoga is something to do:

• in your spare time
• when you can afford LuLuLemon leggings
• when conditions are perfect
• when the kids back to school
• when you lose 10 lbs 
• when you’re not so busy anymore

Ask yourself: 

How would this Father’s Day have been different for George Floyd’s family, if Derek Chauvin had been able to access the Best Version of himself for 8 minutes?

Yoga is not about yoga postures. 

When you step on your mat today-- remember that the important work you are doing inside yourself has the power to change the world.