Namaste Yogis and Yoginis,As we often learn in yoga, grasping tightly to our expectations, opinions, and ideas hinders our experience, limiting our ability to see or feel things as they actually are. Pema Chodron teaches that "…Using your belief system this way creates a situation in which you choose to be blind instead of being able to see, to be deaf instead of being able to hear, to be dead rather than alive, asleep rather than awake."

A mindful yoga and meditation practice invariably helps us loosen our grip on our ‘expectations’ so that we can ‘know’ less and experience more. This issue of Yogalicious offers inspirations for turning off auto-pilot and releasing the clutch on fixed ideas, in order to experience life, as it is, with fresh, open eyes.

With out expectations,
Jillian

"Those who are full of their own opinions will be deaf to words of wisdom from others. In a discussion between two persons, what often happens is that each is intent on asserting his own views. As a result, apart from hearing his own voice or views, he does not learn anything else." — unknown

"We look at things always with old eyes. You come to your home; you look at it without looking at it. You know it -- there is no need to look at it. You have entered it again and again for years. You go to the door, you enter the door; you may unlock the door. But there is no need to look. This whole process goes on robot-like, mechanically, unconsciously. If something goes wrong, only if your key is not fitting into the lock, then you look at the lock. If the key fits, you never look at the lock. Because of mechanical habits, you lose the capacity to look; you lose the freshness to look. Really, you lose the function of your eyes. You become basically blind, because eyes are not needed." http://innerself.com/Meditation/weekly/first_time.htm.   back to top

As an experiment, I've been trying a new way of breathing in vinyasa flow. It goes like this; instead of synchronizing the breath exactly with the movement, wait one or two mille-seconds for the breath to start and THEN initiate the movement. The 'waiting' becomes a mindful 'Pause', and sharpens my alertness throughout the vinyasa flow making it effortless to stay present. This is especially helpful when you do things so repetitively it becomes hard to make them new. Try it yourself: Use a simple flow like Cat. Get down on all fours in cat pose, pause for a moment and feel the ground under your hands and knees. Allow the inhale to begin, feel it inflating you then begin your movement, releasing the belly to the floor as you gaze up. Allow the exhale to begin, pause, and after you feel the breath releasing then round your back to the sky. Let the inhale begin before you initiate your flow back into the arch. Continue like this for 10-20 breaths. Feel what you are doing.    back to top