I am practicing yoga in pursuit of yoga, union. In 1995, in my first yoga class above the Hoboken Farm Boy, Yolante Smit guided me into the corpse pose. I wanted that attunement and peace to last forever. The pose ended, the effect lingered, but eventually faded in the rush of traffic and work and worry. I am practicing yoga to transform my way of being, to yoke myself to that peace permanently. I know people who have done it. So, I know that it can happen.
The techniques of yoga, Patanjali's yoga, the yoga of the Bhagavad Gita, are compassionately given to us so that our fondest, most fragile hopes can be realized here and now. We hope we are not alone. We hope we can be happy. We hope there is meaning. Yoga holds myriad prescriptions for the myriad physical, emotional, and mental suffering of human being. In my time teaching yoga I have seen my students shed worry and tears for peace and laughter. I have seen them grow closer to the core of their being, their own peace, happiness, and certainty.
Every single one of us can find peace. I can't imagine anything nicer to practice or to share.
