Day 31: Moksha Yoga, Going for 90 days

MOKSHA

mo·ksha

Well friends, I just finished 30 straight days of hot yoga at Moksha Yoga Los Angeles, and just when I thought it was  over, life has invited me to go further, so I am going for 90 straight days.    I love the community of Moksha Los Angeles and Moksha, it is a powerful, green, sustainable community of yogi’s.   In my first 30 days I learned a lot about breath, alignment, grace, strength, and vulnerability.  I laid on my mat today, I needed it, I had just spent 6 hours planting, and mulching at my daughter’s new school.  My arms, legs where sore, but I showed up to practice.  I set my intention to explore the sore.  The places in me that were sore.

Katie guided us through a wonderful practice of Yang/Yin.  Lots of twists, stretching, and holds.  It felt good to stretch out. I noticed in my practice that when I am sore, how easy it is to contract, meaning that I don’t want to expand, I seem to resist it. So as I became aware of the contraction, I allowed myself to breath into it and expand it out. As I expanded it out, it felt like my arms were releasing the soreness and it helped me relax.  As I relaxed into it, I discovered the wonder of the breath again, observing how it moved through the stuck parts of the body.  As the breath expanded through the stuck parts, the breath became deeper, fuller, and I felt Zen like.

There is a wonderful story of a older Zen master who was challenged by a younger warrior. The older Zen masters students explained how rough, and strong the younger warrior was and how frightened they were that their teacher would be harmed.  So the older Zen master went outside and stood six feet away from the young warrior. The young warrior, screamed at him, yelled profanities, spit on him, called him names, called his family names, and finally after several hours quit and walked away.  When the older Zen master appeared back inside, his students were amazed. “Master how come you did nothing, the young warrior belittled you, called you names, spit on you, and you did nothing,” the master explained, “When someone gives you a gift and you do not take it, whose gift does it belong too?”  They thought about it, “The one who gave it.” The master said, “Yes.”

In yoga we are given many gifts on our mat, some are loud sensations, loud voices, loud drama, and yet we have choice to take the gift and play into the drama of it or not.  It’s up to you. By  contracting I was taking the gift, when the gift or lesson was teaching me to expand, not contract.  Yes I was sore today, yes it’s easy to give in, but the gift was to open out. It is easy to listen to the mind and give up, play small, but the opportunity is to breath and go into it. The gift is to shine from the inside out.  We are here to liberate ourselves and be free. Are you in? Come join me at Moksha on the mat…on to day 32…

  David Matthew Brown:  Heartspirational Speaker and Sessions. Author, “The Book Of Light: The Heart Opening” and his second book coming in 2013.  David is a blogger, writer, poet, spoken word, actor, and Single Dad, soccer coach for U8 girls

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