I have been wanting to post about expanding the yoga community for a long time. But I mentioned in my previous post that thinking expansively is sometimes overwhelming… maybe. Today after yoga class I was contemplating the word sangha, for me this is the togetherness we feel when we practice yoga, even when we are alone. Sangha is a coming together, a union, yoga.
Many of you have seen me evolve as a teacher in the last five years, from memorizing the asanas of Primary Series, to teaching out of my comfort zone things like Kundalini Yoga and mantra or pranayama, beginning to train other yogis who want to teach and share yoga, and now attempting to lead yoga classes en Español in a foreign but not faraway country. Change isn’t easy. Growth takes a lot of hard work. And shifting roles always brings me back to one question, “Why teach yoga? What’s the big whoop?”
Big whoop: there are millions or billions of people out there who want to learn and practice yoga. Probably 50% of them (maybe you?) have been thinking about going to a class for a while now or wanting to try meditation, but they haven’t stepped foot in a studio or found the right teacher yet. The world needs more yoga. And so the goal has always been the same for me, SHARE THE YOGA.
As I continue to share what I love, I never could have imagined so many different avenues for the community around me and Grateful Yoga to grow. I finally just googled “sangha” and here are some words that come up: community, company, association, inclusive, network, accepting, assembly. A sangha is something created or built, it evolves and epitomizes the idea of individual spirituality coming from one source, the oneness, the love. Next time you are in yoga class, or on the bus, or in a meeting, try to think about the world and beings around you in a context of connection, where is the sameness among us? Instead of thinking about the differences, which are only a construct of our own mind and perspective, release judgement and seek light, truth, beauty.
Sangha is all around us, but it does take work. A huge thank you to the growing community of Grateful Yogis, near and far we continue to do the practice. We are all around the world; in the rainforests of Peru, jumping cliffs in Hawaii, raising beautiful children, watching the leaves fall in VT, serving in the military, wakeboarding in Austria, trekking in the Himalayas, and we are breathing the same air. Do the work, share the yoga, feel the love. We are all together.
