Let There Be Light: Teaching Yoga at Maui Yoga Path: Kihei, HI: October 17, 2021

My friends Jim, Riick and I hiked the beach at Makena and walked these heavy rocks and sticks back and turned that heavy load to a beautiful sculpture.

The Upanishad say the practices of yoga lead us from our dark to our light (Tamayso ma joytir gamaya). Of course, that means you have to show up and actually practice. These things don’t just happen because you read about it in a book, no matter how sacred the texts are.

There can be a tendency to make this about from “bad” to “good”, but that’s so loaded with judgement and opinion, and really, all things ego driven. “The ego is an excellent servant but a terrible master”, says Ravi Ravindra. The light we are looking to access in our practice is the light of awareness.

This changes everything.

On a personal note, when I came to class this morning, I wasn’t in a dark mood, by any means. Yet I nonetheless felt a brightening when I sat down with the group of yogis this morning. We had all ages, from many part of the world. and varying degrees of practitioners from first timers to advanced. Such a challenge used to freak me out, but today I was in awe and it helped me see the light that truly the practices of yoga have little to do with the ability to touch your toes. It’s about the ability to be and touch your own heart and from this space to connect with others. Loving connections is what turns dark to light. “Love is the bridge between you and everything,” wrote Rumi. And how right he is.

And we all could use some practice at this.

Here’s our all level, all ages, all loving sequence today:

Swastikasana with Lotus mudra
Uttitha swastikasana
Parivritta swastikasana

Table top with balance play

Anjayasana
Tadasana with sharing light meditation

Standing side bend using block
Vriksasana

Warrior II
Tipee toe Warrior II
Prasarita pada tadasana
Tadasana

Bridge pose play with Viparita Karani
Supine twist

Savasana
Sit
Namaste