Let Your Teacher Be Love Itself with Katie at Yoga Loka: Reno, Nevada: August 3, 2018

A blog from my heart to yours. How could it be otherwise because we are always all connected to our hearts and to each other.

One of the definitions of  yoga, of which there are many, is to connect. That's why going to yoga class, or any activity you love, feels so good is because what your connecting to is Love itself, really. Such feelings are encouraged, nurtured, illuminated by certain relationships more than others which is why another definition of yoga is "relationship", and why yogis through the ages have put such emphasis on attention to who you're hanging out with.

I've been practicing frequently with Katie on the mat and have learned a lot and I just love her so much. Today she announced she's leaving the studio because she opened her own. I was super excited and happy for her until I realized I wasn't going to be able to slide into my three morning a week Katie practice. She will be teaching just across town, so its not that I can't easily practice with her, I can. It just won't look the way I'm used to. I've been discombobulated and sniveling about the silliest things lately, like the weather and the scent of my shampoo, and this news landed as just another indication the world was out to get me. "The biggest decision you'll ever make it whether the world is for you or against you", said Albert Einstein. Such wisdom is a game changer, to be sure.

We cling to what we like, and yogis say we cling even more who what we dislike. These trappings of the mind are called "dvesha", and one of the ways we suffer. Yet another definition of yoga, offered from the  Bhagavad Gita,  is "breaking the bonds of suffering". All of the methods of yoga are here to help us do just that.

Yoga is happening all the time because connection is happening all the time. So the quest becomes an adventure in awareness of what your connecting to. Because things are changing all the time, the propensity for clinging to likes and dislikes is great, and therefore suffering is actually rather normal. Just take a look around at our world. As the Buddha pointed out "life is suffering". This all seems like such a bummer until you get knocked around enough to see all the suffering is of our own making, and therefore always there is a way out.

Surrendering our grip, the Sanskrit word is "vairagya", can take the form of either moving away from what ails us, or, the higher practice according to Patanjaii Yoga Sutra 1.16,  to surrender towards Love. Orienting towards the positive. doesn't mean we are unaware of difficulties, quite the opposite. It is a call to widen our attention and our hearts. 1 Corinthians 13.13 suggests "Faith, Hope, and Love", as alignments as a  place to hold our attention because they are energies, great Truths that never change. Such practices are a high form of quieting the mind, yet another definition of yoga (PYS 1.2)

I have not been in a state of Love lately and its been excruciating. If your not in Love, you are by default in a state of non-love, which seems  obvious enough until you stop long enough to realize your own habitual clinging.  Love is not only the highest form of practice, it is the most advanced. It is difficult to do for real and takes massive amount of practice.  If, as Rumi suggests, you 'let your teacher be Love itself", you can let the small stuff like my new fancy garbage compactor breaking go, you can let big stuff like my morning yoga class transform, and let Life lead you along the path, somersaulting over and over again so that you're so dizzy with confusion that surrendering to Love is the only thing to learn, and the only place to turn.

Heath, Love, and Rock N Roll

Wishing Katie Louvat all the happiness and success in her hew studio, The Yoga Center Reno. www.katielouvat.com