John Steinbeck said, “Now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” Author, Elizabeth Gilbert, recounted her friend Kristen Bell saying: “I am so tired of being good! Now all I want is to be free.” So Gilbert takes Steinbeck’s words one step further and says, “Now that you don’t have to be good, you can be free.”
So we have this evolution from perfect to good to free. Our work is to strive neither for perfection nor goodness — these two qualities describe our true essence, and therefore are not things that need to be attained, but rather remembered and uncovered. Instead, our work is to keep showing up with the intentions of connecting to our natural integrity and compassion and saying, “Here I am.”
In our physical yoga asana practice, we work in part with the body as it helps ground us in our very human experience, in the present moment. We align our body in poses, we open to the integrity of every cell of the body, we practice honesty and compassion with and choose to stay with ourselves. We step into our Truth saying, “Here I am.”
The breath brings us back home to ourselves again and again, and it also presents us with the opportunity to experience total freedom. If you we allow the inhales and exhales to happen naturally, we find freedom in what Donna Farhi calls the “essential breath.” Each inhale brings with it inspiration. We allow and open to it. And with each exhale we can let go of anything that veils our Truth, our light, our connection to our freedom.
We each know this inherent experience of freedom, this unbridled connection with the Divine, Truth, Source (whatever you call it). It’s right here. Our work comes in uncovering, remembering, bringing our awareness to, and awakening to it. One way to access our freedom is through the body — opening and uncovering space. The mind influences the body, AND the body influences the mind.
Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all awaken to the light of their true nature. May all beings be free…
Krystal Barschig 