Being In the Present Moment: The Wonders of Yoga Part I

We have all heard of phrases and quotes that direct us to focus on the here and now, be happy with where we are and enjoy what we have, count our blessings, relish in the moment, and so on…

There have been so many times as an avid yoga practitioner when my mind plays a silent tug-of-war with my body to do a particular yoga posture (or asana) with ease and grace, yet I end up inept of the correct line and form and wonder why I am so overwhelmed by anxiety of the very movements that are suppose to lead towards inner peace. It is in these moments that I become aware that this is exactly how yoga is teaching me to find that elusive state of calm and be in the present moment.

I absolutely love practicing yoga and over the years it has helped me to learn peace of mind while also demanding that I remain totally in the present moment. The second I begin to worry about the future, whether that future contains images of challenging asanas or other apparently stressful situations, I realize that I’m simply no longer just being totally present and realign my thoughts.

Through yoga, I am consistently taught a very important lesson – finding freedom from the past or the future by being fully in the present moment. What makes this so challenging is that our past leaves scars and traumas, both on our body and mind, and honestly, I find it almost impossible to be totally free from my memories (both the pleasurable and painful ones).

My daily yoga practice demands that I remain awake and alert while feeling my body moment to moment. Without my ability to remain present I know the possibly of any true transformation is nonexistent because it is believed all change happens in the present moment.  I accept the notion that the past is meant to teach us, but not meant to be a definitive as we sometimes make it.  When we believe our past experiences to be the always, only truth, we literally recreate them with our certainty about them.  For example, I can experience my hips as tight one day but know that does not necessarily mean they will be tight the next day. This concept is easy to accept if I feel tightness one day and openness the next, but much harder to sanction if all I have felt for the past five years is tightness. The beauty in the change that practicing yoga promises to bring is within the magic of each practitioner’s inner work, like in my example of transforming years of tightness into openness, sometimes in a single moment.

The foundation of presence in my yoga practice is that I’m listening to how my body truly feels in the moment, rather than my mind dictating what I want my body to do. I expect nothing from each breath and remain curious to explore the unique variations that arise with each new day of my practice. I have come over time and with much discipline to accept the reality that no two yoga sessions will ever feel totally the same for me and no matter how much I try to control the circumstances, it will always vary a little, and it is this variation that is really the key to my freedom. Rather than jumping into my yoga practice with the goal to accomplish everything in one session, I humbly stay on the sensation of the breath, posture, and gazing point to help calm my mind – focusing on the present moment. I now realize how things inevitability change within my own body and let go of the vain attempt to make things happen exactly as I think I want them to.

You can only have bliss if you don’t chase it. – Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

I actively choose my future, breath-by-breath, asana-by-asana and try to see each moment as fresh, alive and containing the seeds of awakening. This requires me to know myself deeply, beyond any concept of time, past or future, the part which lives only in the present moment.

I close my eyes. I take a deep breath. I am in the present moment.