Yogi Bhajan quote . . .

Meditation is not what you do in the morning, that is your practice. Meditation is the way you feel the rest of the day after your practice.

This quote has been on my mind a lot lately. I used it as a theme in a class this morning encouraging the students to concentrate on what they were doing, be present and then the meditative experience would come after that.

In classical yoga as laid out by Patanjali dharana (concentration) comes first, then dhyana (meditation). It makes sense. I don't always agree that the limbs of his yoga are meant to be performed linearly but happen when they are ready to happen, but in this case, having practiced yoga for almost 10 years I do. If you pay attention to what your doing during your practice, breath, movement, energy, alignment of the bones and muscles, in other words be fully present, that the rest of the day it will be easier to focus, easier to move, easier to feel whats going on inside your body, easier to be present with whomever you are with at the time or with whatever situation comes up.

Its funny how lazy people are, myself included sometimes. THinking about being awake usually for 18 hours a day and to take an hour and a half of said day to focus and get yourself together doesnt' seem like a lot of time to dedicate towards your own happiness, peace of mind, contentment, does it? Am I asking too much? I don't think so.

The students this morning responded well to the ideas I threw out during class and commented on it after, so I think they felt what I was saying, you know, they got it. It felt to me like a great class and many of them said so after, so I guess the theme got across.

Thats what I want to do, express ideas, be creative and inspire others to open themselves up to being more aware and being more present in their own lives. Thats what I want from my teaching, right now anyway. I want to draw the students to my classes that want to learn tools to delve into themselves more and feel whats going on and make decisions from that point and maybe, just maybe I am!

Have a lovely day! Sat Nam.