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There is a place in our yoga practices where power is developed by muscle and bone. A thousand chattaranga’s (low push-ups). A thousand jump backs, and maybe you can travel through a handstand on your way to get there. It is exhilarating, and amazing to discover the power of what the body can do. When I was learning to teach, most of the people I knew worked form this old school Ashtanga Yoga understanding that the breaking of the body would lead to the making of your practice. Because it was only when the body was broken that a person would turn inward. It was also understood that most of us wouldn’t turn inward generally, if the whole of our lives hadn’t been turned upside down. We were fortunate, the yoga teachings said, when our worlds were topsy turvy because only then would we take the deep dive.
I sometimes hear this spoken of as “lessons”. That word doesn’t quite capture the whole of my experience with this idea. The thing is, we are all plugged in to external sources of power. Economies and governments, boyfriends and girlfriends, religious institutions and family structures. The moment someone pulls the plug we have a choice, to change direction or try to plug back into a circuit which is unstable. That moment, that moment provides the opportunity to plug into our own internal resources instead. The moment is the moment of true power in the yoga practice. As we begin to delve into our inner being and master that landscape, we discover capacities and resources that we never could have imagined. Discipline, Self-reflection and Surrender – this inner path of yoga – leads us to own our own power, to true sovereignty.
Combine that inner work with a strong physical practice and you can develop the skills to rise like a phoenix out of the ashes of a world which is changing. Just a note though….that success, when truly unfolding from our inner self, seldom looks like we expect it to. It is an adventure.
Destination Sovereignty is the component of my online yoga business related to the mystical and inner journeys of yoga. I hope you enjoy what unfolds here….
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Natalie Ullmann 