| Friends in Yoga, Sitting on a cushion, taking a yoga class, chanting a mantra before your morning coffee…no one would call these radical acts. They are small choices that we make to better ourselves. The motivation to practice often takes form by our desire to be healthier, to be more focused, to connect with our inner self. Each time we practice, the experience is the same and different offering new insights and familiar feelings simultaneously. When we are practicing well, we expect nothing in particular. Even though we may be motivated by a desire, we know that this moment of practice is unique. If we follow the guidance of the great seers before us, we act without expecting. We simply practice without concern for the fruits of our actions. In this way, we find the present more fully and we are set up to receive what is needed. When we work as a yoga therapist it is the same. Yoga therapy is a practice just like any other. We are motivated by the desire for an outcome. We listen to our client’s explanation of suffering and create a strategy for them to relieve it. We take the small action of teaching practice. We take our training, skill, and experience and become present. Once we decide on the practices to share with them, everything else fades into the background. We witness the person in front of us take the small action of practice. We do this week after week, month after month. We do our job perfectly by playing our role of educator and letting go of the results. This is the open secret of yoga therapy. Present-centered practice creates a connection to the flow of nature. Our client’s movement, breath, and meditation connect them to the present moment. It is these small actions that create change. Brain wave states shift, stress levels plummet and spiritual connection becomes felt. The system moves toward balance and finds greater harmony with itself. The transformation they seek is now possible. Throughout the year, I spend much of my time hearing case studies from our yoga therapy student community. Within them, there are hundreds, even thousands of small actions. Using breathwork, simple movement, guided meditation, chanting…and then…something amazing happens. People wake up, feel better, and suffer less. There is often the element of surprise and amazement that these small acts worked because holding the pieces and the whole at the same time is so very elusive. So as the year comes to a close, I invite all of us to hold the awareness that no act that is present and in alignment with nature is too small or unimportant. Let us remember that every moment of practice—asana, pranayama, chanting, meditation, text study, yoga therapy study, sharing with clients and friends—contributes to the change we all desire. May we know ourselves and the world we live in fully and experience the light, peace, and love that is our true nature. With great respect and love, Brandt |
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Brandt talks about common questions applicants have about the Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy Program. Tune in to get the full program details.
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Friends in Yoga, Sitting on a cushion, taking a yoga class, chanting a mantra before your morning coffee…no one would call these radical acts. They are small choices that we make to better ourselves. The motivation to practice often takes form by our desire to be healthier, to be more focused, to connect with our […]