TODAY is a gift.

Wow...it's hard to believe that December is almost here. The warm sunny days we've been enjoying feel more like September.

I recently attended another wonderful yoga workshop.




This time with Rameen Peyrow. Humble friend, inspiring teacher and student of life - Rameen teaches about yoga in the context of our lives. He challenges each and every one of us to dig deeper into what truth may mean and once you think you've found something....let it go and go deeper.

This journey inward, if we choose to accept it, is endless.

In the week since the workshop I taught more classes then I can count. Themes I was left with in the wake of Rameen's wise teachings were 'balance' and 'being present' and below are a few thoughts his teachings brought up for me...comments are welcome!

What does it mean to be balanced? For me ideas of living truth come to mind. In a world where I am constantly bombarded with the external experience of media, friends, family, work and play....it is easy to lose track of my internal truth, what it is I really want??
I believe it is often hard to know what we really want because we are lost in an abyss of meeting expectations, living the life that we have been taught to live...

So, that's where yoga came into my life...a chance to deepen the internal experience, an opportunity to be more connected to my own truths. A chance to really truly know myself. And the balancing act of life is articulating and negotiating the relationship between the internal and external experiences which will forever be ebbing and flowing. Of course, just when things start to feel balanced we are destined to fall once more.
Always balancing - never balanced?

All of this is great in theory, but as humans we need direct experience to really believe things. That's where the yoga posture practice is so amazing. An opportunity to experience first hand, balance - a place to explore your own internal experience (i.e. breath, thought patterns) while staying connected to the external experience of each posture (i.e. injury free alignment and movement).

Balance or truth arises in asana when there is steadiness and ease in both the internal and external expression of the posture. Or as Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutras (2:46), 'Sthira sukham asanam.' In my own life, the experience of this sensation on the mat has definitely left me seeking and striving to find that same sense of truth and balance in every moment of my life.

And, that's where the journey of yoga (for me) has become really interesting!




As for living in the present.
The moments of our lives when the internal and external experiences we are having seem to match up,
The times when we let go of expectations we hold of ourselves and fully accept where we are,
The periods of time where we really engage in listening (whether it be a conversation with our body or our lovers) this is what it means to be present for me.
To fully give my self to a moment.
To go deeper into the NOW.

This week I found myself really encouraging myself and my students to BE PRESENT and GO DEEPER, and even in setting that intention i felt my own engagement with every one of the countless classes i taught more heightened and real.
It felt amazing!
And, after my class last Tuesday morning at the Rec Centre a wonderful women came up and shared the most beautiful quote. It's from a Charly Brown cartoon - if anyone has a copy of the cartoon I would love to see it.

It says.
Yesterday is the past.
Tomorrow is the future.
Today is a gift - that's why it's called the present.

ahh, it's perfect!
Enjoy today!
As Rameen would say - TODAY is the best day EVER!!

more soon - Sarah
p.s. Rameen's website is www.theyogaloft.com and he'll be visiting Canmore in January '09. As for all the Squamish readers - he was excited to hear about our new studio and looks forward to gracing us with some wonderful classes in the late summer or fall of '09!!