Yoga

Namaste friends.  I recently acquired a yoga teacher training certificate.  My motivation was pain.  Back Pain.  When you have chronic pain, it is pretty much all you think about.  So, to help myself I dove headlong back into yoga.  I have done yoga on and off through my life.  Most people in the West think of yoga as exercise.  While it is great exercise, yoga is actually a way of life.  The yoga asanas are just a way to get your body flexible and supple enough to sit comfortably in meditation to achieve self realization.  That sounds like a way off goal and quite unattainable, but it is all about baby steps.  First you get your body in shape, then you sit in quiet meditation and eventually you realize your true nature. Okay, that is still simplified, but really that is all there is to it.  Unfortunately, we have our mind that gets in the way and it is a powerful mechanism.  Guided meditation and mantra is a good way to start to overcome the monkey mind.