When you are uncertain about what to do, where to go or how best to move forward, then choose the option that brings you peace. When you are feeling unsettled and unsure, do something to bring you towards peace. Being in a peaceful state will always help you to make the right decision.
Where do you look for peace? I look for it in the woods, on mountains and in the ocean. I look for it on my yoga mat and on my meditation cushion; I seek it in my breath and in the movement of my body; I see it in my teachers and hear it in the tone of their books; I watch for it in my students and observe it blooming within them when they practice.
Peace is nowhere else. I do not climb mountains to look for it there; peace lives in my heart, being alone on a mountain just reminds me of that fact. Peace is always within us; it is our natural state. Yoga is a way that we turn to the peace in our hearts, over and over again until it becomes an old friend.
There are many reasons why people come to their yoga mats: it makes you fit, increases your flexibility, improves lung-capacity and good-health. It makes you feel good, challenges you and increases your sense of yourself and your capacities. I am a recipient of all of these benefits.
But a fit body is only a vessel for the peace inside and a comfortable and healthy body and mind is simply a better place for a peaceful soul to live. That's all. It doesn't matter what we do on our mat or how we do it; whether we sit, or stand, or leap or dance, whether it be in silence or with music, whether we chant or pray, or meditate or not; none of that matters. The only thing that matters; the one thing that makes yoga different, is that yoga is always, always about seeking and finding peace.
If you approach life with your old same habits of self-recrimination and criticism, then all you are going to find there is what you have been living with. If you water the seed of not good enough, then that is what is going to bloom.
There is a different way. For yogis, this way begins in formal practice: we learn to use our breath and movement to let go of tension, inflexibility and negative habits of mind. We find that at the end of our practice we feel more peaceful and we want to let this inner peace imbue more of life. We do not shy away from difficulties when they present themselves, we know that sometimes we have to address old hurts and habits in order to move forward more freely.
If you want to be more peaceful, remember that it is already in you. Get to your mat a little more often, approach your practice in a kind and curious way with no pushing and no self-recrimination. Use your practice for the purpose of peace and peace will surely come.
“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?"
Swami Satchidananda
Sarah x