The Core

I was doing a Yoga sequence that came in my Yoga Journal magazine last night that concentrates on strengthening your core strength.  I love any exercise that promises to build my core...it just sounds so foundational, so strong, so much about the essence of my body.  When I reached the last pose, Bakasana (Crane Pose) , I was excited to find that I could actually hold it!  Ok so it was for about 3 seconds, but it amazed me at how good it felt and how balanced my mind and body felt.  So I was thinking about this pose.  I think that what I loved about it is how it applies so well to how we need balance in our lives.  I have mentioned before that I'm striving for balance in my spiritual, mental, physical and relational sides of my life.  It just amazes me how universal truths have a way of being at "the core" of everything we learn.  Yoga is also about achieving balance in four areas (they are called purusharthas): dharma, artha, kama and moksha.  Imagine that!  How is it that everything is about balance and how things are so connected!  What I also loved is that if you have balance, you can achieve great things.  I looked at the picture of the Crane Pose and thought "man, that takes a lot of strength!"  But in reality, if you have the balance and the focus, your arms can sustain the weight.  I can apply that to my life and how maintaining balance helps me stay focused, be joyful, be at peace and pursue my true purpose (which I believe is to love and help people, but even that gets deeper...how do I do this? what avenue? where?? I guess it's a topic all by itself!!).

So I think that what I'll do from now, to give this blog a little more structure, is to dedicate an entry to each of those four areas.  I'll also see what Yoga teaches me along the way in these areas...I'm pretty excited to see what comes of it.  I started doing yoga poses and sequences when I felt unhappy and couldn't seem to enjoy living in the moment.  I found that since it's all about focusing on the moment, that it helped me to come out of the dark place I was living in and has helped me to become more in tune with my body and thank God for each and every moment he grants me.  Once again, the Creator of this universe knew exactly what He was doing when He created us!  Amazing.