“Music fills the infinite between two souls.” Tagore

Singing our heart’s song is being harmonious with life.

As we attune to the subtle, yet simple, call of duty we open to self-expression and enter harmony of being.  When we do what we do naturally, with ease, we innately expand.  The tendency to strive for more or less activates a desirous quality.  This potentiality triggers proclivities.  At that moment, we are given the opportunity to peer into the mind and gain insights into how it’s motivated.

Observe the tendency to nurture an idea that has a rhythm out of tune with your hearts song.   Return to your inner harmony and develop the intricacies for a more precise and vital melody.   In harmony, flow forward with vision and with wisdom honor where you’ve come from.

Sing into life and allow life to sing into you.

Being heart-centered is recognizing our dualist tendencies and being willing to overcome the proclivities that propel us toward a feeling of separation and disconnection. That which is divided, always returns home into the heart. In the Taoist tradition, there is a saying “You can only go so far into the forest before nature draws you back out again.” It is a law of nature. It is innate cyclical patterning. Karmic proclivities draw us away from our center (outward) causing a feeling of imbalance and disconnection. As we naturally work to balance this state, we move back to our center (inward). We move back to the heart of our being

Being heart-centered is honoring the radiance that is always with us, like the Sun itself. In this way, the Sun and the Heart are likened to one another. In yoga, the sun center is located at the ajna chakra, and within the sun center is a hidden center, so the mystics say. They refer to the second center as the moon.

The goal of hatha yoga is to join the sun (ha) and the moon (tha). The sun is symbolic of the sacred masculine and is active, while the moon is symbolic of the sacred feminine and is passive. Unifying these two opposing forces of nature brings about a state of illumination – balanced at the heart of being.

When our tendency is weighted — either too passive or too active — we move away from the heart. Taoism (meaning the way) dedicates its teachings to the art of being actively passive. And, as humans, we naturally seek a state of balance. Maintaining that state, however, is our practice.

Always remember, that from the heart of being beauty and abundance flows perpetually — without accumulating a thing.

Daily Reflections

Ask yourself. . .

What areas of my life am I being too active or too passive?

How can I bring more heart-centered awareness into my being?

What draws me away from my heart-centered being?

Creative power comes from yielding to the process. Pure force alone does not generate this capability. Creative power is energy and is called Shakti in yoga. Shakti is the creative potential of life, and it is exemplified by the female principles. Shakti manifests when it merges with the energies of Shiva, the masculine qualities of movement which creates force. Although modern culture tends to disassociate the male and female qualities; they exist as a whole within each of us. One goal of yoga is to experience these qualities, in balance.

Yielding is often identified as a feminine quality of weakness. Power is a masculine energy seen as a force of strength and domination. However, when you look at the natural movement of energy, like water for instance, strength and force are elevated when you yield your energy to the natural flow; Shakti is symbolized as the water and Shiva as the movement of water. Yielding, is not submissive. It produces a natural process of momentum. When we ignite the Shakti power with the Shiva energies, creative potentials are engaged. Through patience and the methodical persistence of yielding to the flow life, energies inevitably ignite and their potential is perpetuated.

This is similar to the way we weave through the seasonal changes of our environment. There is no way to deny the changes occurring, instead when we yield we find balance. It is water making its way down a river, or two lovers moving in an embrace.

Yielding is a surrender, to the process. It is not passive or inactive. Action and movement of energy (Shiva) is necessary for creative potential (Shakti) to be activated. Yielding to life is a dance; you move to the rhythm fast or slow, melodic or tempered. The tempo of your body changes according to the tempo of the music. It is the action of least resistance. If you do not dance there is no movement. Yielding, therefore, does not infer that you sit back and simply wait, rather it encourages one to act in consciousness with awareness, heeding to the intuitive notions that yield a dynamic expression.

Daily Reflections

Ask yourself. . .

In what areas of my life am I forcing an action or outcome?

What do I need to yield to, in order to cultivate more creative power?

How can I balance the surrender (Shakti energy) and force (Shiva energy) within my being?

In yoga, a primary goal is balance. Striving for balance within ones being takes enduring conscious volition. As practitioners of yoga, we are constantly balancing our chakras (energy centers), while striving to balance family, work, and recreation. Most importantly, we are continually aiming toward balancing the breath. As we’ve all experienced, it takes conscious awareness and continuous effort to be in balance and the breath can be recognized as a valuable tool for gauging one’s stability.

Just as the structure and weight of a house relies on the stability of its foundation to support its frame, so to, do we rely on our mental, emotional, and physical stability to support the balance of our being. A stable life-style will support a balanced way of being. Yoga is a system of techniques and a methodology that aims toward physical, mental, and emotional stability.

Our bodies can be very demanding and are usually quite expressive in displaying their needs. Our challenge is having the awareness to respond by giving the body what it requires, discerning between need and craving. Hatha yoga’s primary goal is to develop self-awareness, thus assisting one in recognizing subtle expressions of the body. As one becomes more stable and aware in the physical body, one naturally becomes more aware of mental activity, as one is more aware of the mental process, one gains the ability to stabilize the emotional life.

Remember, true balance will always have a stable breath. Focused stabilization of body and mind is the structure for reducing emotionality, which forms a supportive foundation for balanced self-awareness and thus a balanced way of being.

Daily Reflections

Ask yourself. . .

What is the natural rhythm of my breath? How and when is it altered?

What triggers my emotional reactions?

What can I do to be more aware of my mental activity?