“What’s the most powerful practice in all of yoga?” I get this question a lot, and I’ll admit: it’s a difficult one. Because yoga is such a rich tradition with a dizzying array of tools and techniques and wisdom that can help us in so many ways… - from snuffing out persistent anxiety and overwhelm…
- to gaining clarity and confidence about our place in life…
- to finding joy, actual joy, from where we are right now… So, it’s a tough choice. But… If I was forced to pick just one, I’d have to point to this: Svadhyaya. Yoga’s practice of self study. Why? Well, quite simply, because if you don’t know your Self, and I mean intimately, things like…
Why you think what you think…
Why you feel how you feel…
Why you do what you do…
(and, of course, who you *really* are beneath it all) All of the yoga techniques, meditation practices, and self-help books in the world will only take you so far. It’s no accident that every spiritual tradition in the world from Yoga to Hinduism, and from Christianity to Islam, all teach the importance of knowing thyself. But as crucial as it is, very few of us have been taught to be interested in the subtle forces that drive our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Forces that are always working on us just below the surface of things. Forces, that when understood, can set us free from the anxieties, doubts, and overwhelm that rob us of the full and happy lives we were put here to live. And as so many of us live our lives ignorant of these largely unseen forces, we remain forever victims of them. And that’s why, yoga’s practice of Svadhyaya, with its invitation to investigate the most important mystery of all, ourselves, is at the very top of my yoga list.
Comments