Pay Attention to After
I was asked by a seeker today, if it’s good or bad to feel tired after the practice of yoga. My response, is that it is good to simply feel, following the practice of any aspect of yoga.
A teacher of mine used to call this the second half of the pose. So many people are trying to be acrobats. We see them on social media. The same teacher used to say to me, “If flexibility brings enlightenment, there would be so many more happy circus performers.”
It’s not flexibility, that brings awareness.
Certainly, any exercise is going to bring a sense of either relaxation or exhaustion. But the most important part of any practice coming to us from the vast science of yoga is awareness.
It’s watching in the quiet stillness, after the practice of any yoga posture, or Pranayama breathing exercise, or even in the state of meditation when we first come out of it, and start to become aware once again, that we are here in a physical space. This is the second half of a pose. This is the second half of the practice and it is so important any aspect of yoga is teaching us steadiness. It is bringing us into awareness. I find it fun to look at the idea of good and bad when asking…
