Yoga is a Life Path by Sharmila Desai
When we were children, my grandmother used to translate Namaste as the God in me welcomes the God in you.
I loved to look at her smile as she placed her hands together even though I could not fully grasp the meaning of her words.
Years later, it was only when I discovered Ashtanga Yoga, as taught by Sri K Pattabhi Jois, R. Sharath Jois and R. Saraswati Jois in Lakshmipuram, Mysore that I began to understand what the God in me meant.
Yoga as a spiritual science connected me to a process of inner perception and living principles, cultivating who I am, and who I am becoming in alignment with it.
Change is a constant part of life, both within us and in the larger pattern of nature.
In finding our comfortable seat within asana, we learn through our bodies and in our pulse how to apply effort and when to let go. How to breath through resistance and fear, to sync ourselves to the waxing and waning of the moon, and to embrace a calm equanimity as we go through life's natural evolution.
Guruji said that the practice takes a lifetime, possibly lifetimes. It is in our patience with hard work and in our everyday living that we heal, find happiness, and experience lasting transformation.
The process to bring a goodness and an embodied awareness into our life takes time and cultivation, much like a seed that blooms into a flowering plant.
Yoga is a life path permeating into the fabric of our existence as we raise our children, be present for our elders, serve our community, and walk softly on our earth.
As we dive deeper into ourselves, we experience a oneness to all around us.We tap into a pure consciousness that exists everywhere. And we begin to intuitively feel, as my grandmother would say, the God in me welcomes the God in you.
Sharmila Desai was first introduced to Ashtanga yoga by Shri K. Pattabhi Jois and R. Sharath Jois when she visited Mysore in 1997. She has continued to study regularly at the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute and is one of few worldwide to be Certified by the Institute to teach the Ashtanga yoga system. Sharmila comes from a matrilineal line of renowned Indian classical dancers and intellectuals who raised her with the importance of spiritual discipline and ancient art in contemporary daily life. Visit http://www.sharmiladesai.com/ to learn more about Sharmila Desai and her works.
