Atha: And Now Yoga

Atha. And Now. AND implies there’s been something before the NOW. But now, there is only now. And this one word is Willie Wonka’s golden ticket. We have been gifted the ultimate wisdom to unlock our blissdom with the very first word in the yoga sutras, Atha. Now, all we have to do is open up our hands, minds, and hearts to receive this golden key to bliss, for it is the culmination of thousands of years of self introspection. So here we are, gifted with the “answer.” The answer spiritual seekers have been seeking for in ashrams, on Ayahuaska trips, in crystal formations, and month long water fasts. Now, is it. Now is where life exists, now is where you taste the watermelon, where you can smell the intimate scent of another, where you can shower in the rain underneath the stars, where you can laugh and sing and hug and do all the really simple things that make this whole trip we are on fun and exciting, and miraculous, which we can only understand because we have also felt things like shame, and doubt, and not enoughness, and overwhelm, and anger and every other feeling under the sun.

But here’s the thing, we tend to get all tangled up with these emotions and sometimes our feet get stuck in them like it’s sticky icky swamp mud but instead of mud, it’s your resentment or your guilt. Sometimes we are in a war with our feelings, like when we shoot at our family and friends with our malice words and our manipulative moods and then we put the gun to ourself and pull the trigger with our self hatred. Sometimes we just don’t have the damn time for them, so we stuff them in the dirty clothes hamper to grow mold and maybe deal with them when the stink overwhelms our entire home. But what we are consistently forgetting is that the whole point of all of this, of being on this trip called going to earth and humaning, is so that we get to feel ALL these feelings and to know that beyond all these feelings, all is actually well. Sadly most of us don’t believe all is well, so how could it be?

We must find it within ourselves to connect with a trust beyond our daily roller coaster of emotions or flatlining with our non-emotions. We must be willing to explore the unknown with a knowing that there’s something incredibly magical about this existence. If we can trust that, than we are ready. We are ready to receive the golden ticket. We are ready to love ourselves and love our lives beyond our current limitations. This is Atha. This is Yoga. The journey of yoga begins with making this decision. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe so eloquently puts it: “until one is committed, there is a hesitancy, the chance to draw back. The moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves too. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has a genius, power and magic in it.”

This commitment is different for Every. Single. Person. It can only be yours to make. No one can make it for you but everyone WILL FEEL it radiating from you. This commitment is not short term, it is a life term. It’s not a quick fix and gratification will only come from the commitment to gratitude as your attitude. Because change, real change takes time, it takes intention, it takes persistence, and it takes a lighthearted curiosity to be willing to NOT know, over and over and over again. Real change is a practice, it’s not a perfect, it will wax and wane like the moon. But the full moon resiliently shows up time and time again. Let’s be like the moon, lets’ show up in each phase as the beautiful, exquisite beings that we are. Let us make the decision to open our hearts and our minds to NOW.

Here’s to us and to the commitment we are making to know ourselves more intimately and to have more moments of peace than of purgatory. Atha amigos, Atha.

Muchas Gracias mi amigos,

I am so excited to be back teaching weekly yoga philosophy lessons which of course means writing about them via this blog. Your time and attention and consideration mean so very much to me. May you walk away from this reading feeling more inspired than when you started.

Blessings,

Andrea Dawn