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Yoga is skill in Action
The New Year is a time of new beginnings, a time for reflection, review and re-prioritization as we chart our course for the upcoming year. I have been re-reading the Bhagavad Gita and am choosing this text for my teaching theme for Winter 2013. The following quotes from the text strike me as powerful reminders for the upcoming year. “Yoga is skill in action.” The word yoga comes from yuj, to yoke, to unite, to connect. Yoga is to yoke your mind, body and heart, to connect to the deepest truth of who you ultimately are. Yoga also is action, practices that you do both on the mat and off the mat. When you establish a clear connection with your deepest core and act from that place, that is yoga, skill in action. So, now that it is now 2013, how are you choosing to act and what are your actions? How are you consciously yoking your mind, body, and heart together? With what care and attention are acting? What is important to you? What actions are you choosing to take? What actions are you choosing not to take? For even in-action is a form of action. “No one, for even an instant, can exist without acting.” Everything you do or don’t do is an action, and every action begets other actions and consequences. Therefore, choose be present. Prioritize what is important. Connect to yourself and to others. Act with care whether you are preparing a meal, reading to a child, responding to an email or practicing asana. When you are connected to your true self, then your actions are skillful, precise, exactly what is needed in any situation. When you find you have not acted skillfully, there is no need to reprimand yourself. Simply return to the practices and tools that help you come back to yourself once again. Pause, soften, breathe. Come back to your breath again. This is yoga, the repetition of practices that yoke, elevate and liberate. Re-set yourself and begin again. Ahhh... new breath... new year!
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New Year's Ritual:
Blessings of Thanks and Intentions for the New Year Dear Yoga Friends, Last year I began a New Year's Ritual in which I make two lists: one is a gratitude list with the people, events, opportunities and challenges that have blessed and shaped my year. The second is a list of Intentions: my goals, desires and plans for the upcoming year. I keep these lists close at hand, usually near where I practice as reminders of who and what is important and how I should spend my time and energy. Recently, I read my lists from last new year, and was delighted to see all the ways in which I had grown and expanded. 2009 was a year of beautiful unfolding opportunities. My intention last January was to expand my yoga teaching to new areas. Over the past year, I expanded my teaching to 4 new locations. I give thanks for the many students who began with me at The Evergreen State College and who have followed me to new locations. I give thanks to all the new students who have found me this year at my new locations. I give thanks to the studio owners who have granted me the space to teach. It is truly my delight to share the gift of yoga with all of you! 2010 will be full of new opportunities as well. From now through mid March, I will continue to offer classes at my current locations. (See schedule below.) In late March, my family will travel to Peru for 4 months with my husband Steve's TESC teaching position for an exciting long-dreamed of adventure. Who knows what opportunities beckon us there?! We will return in August and I will resume my teaching schedule, although class locations and times may change. In the midst of all this, I will be participating in a year long study course with Yoga and Tantric scholar and meditation teacher Paul Muller Ortega. My intentions for this year are to be wide open to the rich opportunities coming my way, to be present for these and for the people in my life and to continue to integrate these into my deepening yoga practice and life. May 2010 be a fabulous year for you! May you be open to receive the blessings of the people and events around you and may you create ever expanding and enriching opportunities for yourself! In Light and Love, Annie |
AuthorAnnie Barrett. Educator, certified health coach, educator and yoga instructor. 
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