
“To ensure good health: eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.” ~William Londen

Yoga, an ancient but perfect science, deals with the evolution of humanity. This evolution includes all aspects of one’s being, from bodily health to self realization. Yoga means union – the union of body with consciousness and consciousness with the soul. Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day to day life and endows skill in the performance of one’s actions.
B.K.S. Iyengar
Yoga is a Sanskrit word which means, “to yoke”, “to join” or “union.” This is why it is so important that we not take the physical poses and practice them alone, out of context as a form of physical exercise.
The balance that comes from the practice of yoga does not happen overnight. It takes time. There are so many things in our lives that can throw us out of balance. A consistent yoga practice based on the 8 limbs of yoga can help us find our way back to our true selves.
The balance that comes from the joining or union of body mind and spirit has been showing up in several ways for me. During the third year of my current practice I have been noticing a lowering of my blood pressure and heart rate, the relaxation of muscles which had always been tense, a great reduction in the “adrenaline overload” that was once my state of being and a very gradual weight loss. I am also calmer and tend to worry less. I have not been practicing yoga specifically for any of these things, but by dedicating myself to a regular practice and taking the teachings to heart my entire system has been moving toward greater balance.
So don’t worry about the perfect tree pose. Do the best your body can and you will find yourself coming into balance in more than just the physical sense.

“The root of all health is in the brain. The trunk of it is in emotion. The branches and leaves are the body. The flower of health blooms when all parts work together.” ~Kurdish Saying

“People with handicaps teach me that being is more important than doing, the heart is more important than the mind, and caring together is better than caring alone.” — Henri Nouwen
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/henri_nouwen.html
There is one thing in this world I know for sure. We each create our own reality with our thoughts. Unfortunately much of what we create is not real — it is simply an illusion.
One of the biggest illusions I seem to like to create is that outside forces have power over me. Anyone else like to create that one? The great nebulous “they” made me do it, or did it to me. What really happens in these instances is that I do it to myself.
You see it’s not what others do or how they live that causes me problems, it’s how I react to it. I always have a choice. Unfortunately I occasionally still chose to live on adrenaline and it doesn’t take much to get that going. Bob being sick, a friend needing a lot of time and attention, going overboard with physical exercise can be all it takes to set off what I call an adrenaline storm. As I am getting older and as I have been getting these under control “falling off the wagon” has become harder. At the least, there is one heck of a “hangover.” Just as with a storm related to weather whether it be rain, wind, snow, there is often clean-up that has to occur after the storm has passed, there is always clean-up to do and often consequences to live with when we create a reality that is out of balance and does not work.
So what do we do? Do we give up and just “accept” our flawed reality as just the way life is? Or do we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, be patient with ourselves, learn something from the experience and recommit to our spiritual practice? The choice is mine. The choice is yours.