Yoga of Now
Hello dear friends,
“Happiness is not something you find at the end of the road. You have to understand that it is here, now.”
I have a deck called “Everyday Peace Cards” by Thich Nhat Hanh. I often pull one out of the deck, read it, and then let it sit on my desk for a few days. The cards are simple mindfulness meditations and they always offer something to ponder.
The quote above was on the card that I pulled this week. I’ve been noodling on it for a few days now. To me, the most interesting part is the final word after the comma…now.
Happiness is here NOW.
And NOW.
And NOW.
When I first studied to become a yoga teacher, we had to read the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, an ancient text on the theory and practice of yoga. There are 196 Sutras divided among 4 chapters. It was originally written in Sanskrit and there are several different translations available to us today.
The very first Sutra is:
“Now begins the practice of yoga.”
It seems pretty straight ahead - like an introduction to the book. It almost feels like “Once Upon a Time.”
Or maybe it isn’t. Perhaps that “Now” at the front of the sentence is supposed to remind us that our yoga begins right in the NOW that we experience when we’re in the present moment.
NOW begins the practice of yoga.
Our yoga practice allows us to be fully present with the body, the breath, and the mind. It helps us to stay in the present moment and discover the sensations and feelings that are here NOW. We can't obsess about the past, we can't worry about the future, we just practice in the NOW.
Right NOW.
Thich Nhat Hahn was right, we're not on a road trip to happiness. We don't need to travel to find it. That happiness is already here. It's found in subtle moments of grace and love. When we find that intersection of mind, body, breath, feeling, and sensation, we can find NOW.
When we find NOW, those subtle moments of happiness surround us.
Please join me on your mat.
Love,
Nina G