You Are Enough. Peace & Joy Are Your Birthrights.

I’ve had conversations with a few different friends this past week, and each was indirectly expressing feeling as though they did not deserve happiness, peace, success, etc. We seem to set this bar for ourselves everyday, and if we fall short and don’t achieve this, that, or the other, then we determine that we don’t deserve goodness, that we have not proven ourselves worthy.

We are each born worthy, and absolutely nothing we do or don’t do can take that worthiness away from us. Peace and joy are our birthrights. There are no prerequisites, no standards to be met. Our sheer existence unconditionally qualifies us to experience peace and joy. Even if you feel as though you have made zero good choices today, did nothing right, got nothing done, you still deserve and are entitled to complete peace and joy in this very moment.

You are enough. You just being you is enough. It’s more than enough. You being fully you is the greatest personal achievement, the best gift to loved ones. the mot valuable contribution you can make to society because your truest self is inherently good, it is love, it is light, if is from and of the Source.

The work, then, that we must do is release, let go, uncover, and allow to fall away that which veils your truest self.

How does this all translate to our asana practice? Notice when the impulse to strive or “go deeper” arises. From where does it come? Does is carry with it the quiet implication that where you are right now isn’t good enough? Can you tow the line of desire for growth and also acceptance and true love for where you are right now? Remember that you’re already home.

“Am I suggesting that we no longer try to achieve our goals? Absolutely not. It is not accomplishment that is the problem. The problem is the belief that accomplishments are the solution to an aching soul.” — Judith Hanson Lasater, Living Your Yoga

May we continue to soften and open, allowing peace and joy to flood our hearts and minds. May we come to embrace our inherent, unique worth, understand that we belong, and trust the journey. Namaste.