“Balance, peace, and joy are the fruit of a successful life. It starts with recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve others by using them.” — Thomas Kinkade
When I say balance what do you think of? Do you think of keeping the physical body standing upright? That is one aspect of balance that we become more concerned with as we grow older and there are specific yoga poses that can help with that. Do you think of standing on one foot in some sort of extreme yoga pose? Or do you think of the balance of between body mind and spirit? This last aspect of balance is what I am talking about today.
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 best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.” — Euripides
“Balance, peace, and joy are the fruit of a successful life. It starts with recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve others by using them.” — Thomas Kinkade
It is easy to become so concerned about one area of life that we are pulled out of balance in others. What pulls us out of balance can be anything, including money, work, health concerns, fitness and even food. None of these things are necessarily bad, but when any one becomes the center of our lives we miss out on the fullness of life we were created to experience.
When we are being called to learn a new way of eating and living it is so easy to become with obsessed with what we are learning or what led us to the path we are on. It’s even possible to get caught up in focusing on sickness. Sometimes we have to pull ourselves out of this and consciously work toward balance again.
Living in balance is not a once and for all kind of thing. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were? We are constantly making adjustments to stay balanced. Think of it as walking a balance beam. We may lose our balance and even fall off the beam from time to time, but it is important to keep trying.
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Rogene Robbins is the author ofThe Gluten Free Good Life and other books available atAmazon.com’s Kindle Store. Please visit her Healthy and Gluten Free page to learn about Rogene’s own gluten free good life.
“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.” — Brian Tracy
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