Take a Journey to the Center of Your Self

This past week I've been talking a lot in class about taking the journey to the center of your Self. This is really the journey we are taking in our yoga practice.

Do you know those wheels on the playground, or in a park? The ones for kids to play on, or that you used to play on when you were a kid? You get on the wheel and someone spins it and you are flying around on the wheel with the other kids. It's fun! It's exciting. There's lots of drama. Sometimes it's scary. You're out of your comfort zone.

Where's the most excitement when you're on the wheel? At the outer edge. If you want to go faster, you know you sit close to the outer edge of the wheel. If you move closer to the center, it slows down -- for you. It feels like the wheel is actually going slower. The speed hasn't changed at all, though. The wheel is still spinning the same speed whether you are at the outer edge of the wheel or close to the center. It hasn't changed all but it's changed for you. When you move to the center of the wheel you shift your perspective. You change your relationship to the movement of the wheel. When you get all the way to the center, you can be sitting in the center of the wheel and it's like you're not moving. You're in stillness. You can just watch the wheel spinning around you and you see all the kids out at the outer edge of the wheel, screaming and yelling and laughing. The wheel is still moving but you're in stillness.

Being at the center of the wheel is what it's like being at the center of your Self. What's out at the outer edges of the wheel? The body, the mind, the thoughts, the emotions, the ego. What's at the center of the wheel? You. The deeper part of who you are, the pure consciousness part of who you are, the essence of who you are.

Yoga doesn't say I want the wheel to slow down. Yoga says change your relationship to the movement. Go to the center of the wheel. Go to the center of your Self. Yoga doesn't make all of your stress suddenly disappear. It doesn't make all of your responsibilities go away. It doesn't turn the heat down or pour water on the fire. It doesn't say to the wheel, "Slow down, I'm uncomfortable, this is too much!" Yoga teaches us how to change our relationship to the movement. Yoga teaches us how to stand in the middle of the fire and remain calm. Yoga teaches us how to breathe into the moment.

Your yoga practice is teaching you how to shift your perspective. The journey you are taking in your practice is to the center of the wheel, to the center of your Self. The journey doesn't take you out of the world. It changes your relationship to the world.