“Don’t mistake movement for achievement!” my college basketball coach used to yell at my team as we cut and moved around the court out of habit or ploys to look busy.
I had no idea what he was talking about until years later: Just because we were moving did not mean that we were applying the intensity that would create a result.
We can apply this warning from my old sage of a coach to the way that most people exercise today: Lots of movement. Limited results.
The practice of yoga was traditionally passed from teacher to student. The teacher moderated the flow of information based on what the student was ready to learn. Today, a 24-hour yoga studio is employing teachers and practitioners around the world to open the floodgates. This studio is called the internet.
The internet is drowning the general population with information about yoga that is flawed, untrue and unearned. Students and seekers of the great truths underlying our existence are flailing amidst the waves of words, images and videos constantly crashing onto their screens.
When it comes to yoga, access to information is not a right. It is a privilege. The teachings must be sought and procured from credible and trustworthy sources over time. The teachings must be earned.
How to improve digestion is easy, I’ll teach you today with this one yoga pose.
Biohacking is annoyingly trendy these days. But it invites us to believe that life can shift in an instant. Sometimes, the superior solution in a snare is simple. Swift. Sly.
I have emphasized that transformation through yoga requires patience. But yoga is also dynamic in its offerings and defiant of limitations. We can use elements of this multidimensional practice to hack our bodies, minds and spirits to transmute how we feel in mere moments.
Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it.
As I sit here on the beach in Costa Rica, one word keeps gently crashing into my mind: patience.
What I see and feel is that patience has become a lost art. We are told, especially in the West, that we deserve and should receive everything we want – now. But this is a lie and a major source of stress.
The art of cultivating patience is multifaceted. It involves patience for one’s body, mind, spirit and, ultimately, one’s life. This same encompassing view of patience also applies to everyone and everything that we encounter in life – regardless of whether we agree with them.
Backpacking through South America five years ago, I met an Adonis.
As I arrived at a whitewater-rafting trip one early morning, I stared in awe at a tall, shirtless blond who was smiling and buzzing with energy. Unlike my typical crushes, the object of my admiration was not a woman. It was a Greek god.
The man was an eccentric pharmacist from the United States named Kirk. He was an enigma – super scientific, but also kind of a bro. I felt drawn to him.
I was bursting with questions about how he possessed such a muscular and lean body.
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Yoga. The word and its practices carry different connotations and attachments for each of us, mainly because of its diverse portrayals in sacred texts versus social media and the countless forms and spin-offs available.
But, if you listen closely, there is a common thread: It works.
Most teachers I encounter do not know why it works, and most students are not interested in knowing how it works. Some people may see this as a tragedy. I see this as an opportunity. An opportunity for those who are asking the questions to earn the right to learn the answers.
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Spring is a time of change and creation. The weather promises warmth, joy and freedom. Even if you do not follow the changes of the seasons, something is shifting, and you know it.
With change on the horizon, there is something that you can do today to prepare yourself: Let go.
What is between where you are now and where you want to be? This is a powerful question, one that I ask my students and myself often. Before we can make big shifts in our lives, it helps to clear out the old to prepare for the new.
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