AN ASHTANGA DIARY 5

Up to 5 times this week, 5 primary series, and for now, this is the peak, maybe I'll do 6 days but I am so glad to have 2 days off a week.

Something happens with a 5 day practice that simply would never occur. You see most of us think that by doing yoga once or twice a week things will get a little better, and this is the truth, but the actual path of yoga is a journey that continues to unravel, and the message lies in the journey, not the destinations, and following this travel analogy, it may be that we enjoy the view from one part of our journey, but to find and reach our destination we must continue, sometimes uphill, and sometimes downhill, but continue we must, for abandonment means no fulfilment, no dream realised.

And this path of yoga involves pain and discomfort, a form of body modification, much as tattoo or piecing, though the path of yoga is more concerned with internal modifications rather than external visual signs, so for the yogi, change is subtle, personal and internal, but can any practitioner not speak highly of this path?

Yoga is sometimes presented as a spiritual path, but I would disagree with this, on the premise that it does not truly define the use of the word 'spiritual'. For me Ashtanga is a combination that permits increased engagement and awareness within my physical body, allowing an increased energetic flow, creating less physical shutdown, thus improving health and well-being, as if we retract from this, our closest object, our body, how can we engage with anything or anyone?

So, now I can hug, with an open heart and open body... want some?

Written and published by Mark Golding - THE ORGANIC HOME

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