The Power Within Yoga

A Dance Between Body and Soul to Discover the Duality of the Self.

I spent my entire life dwelling within my self. The more I tried to be strong, the more I was falling apart. I often ended up thinking that I was too little and fragile for this world until one day I sat in the darkness of my little apartment and I decided to surrender to the pain and to just be.

Be everything I was not proud of: alone, scared and vulnerable. I embraced that darkness and I connected to the sound of my heart beat and suddenly discovered that primordial rhythm, that life force that we all carry inside.The strength that lies in surviving, the force that shines in my core, the fierce fire that comes from accepting who you are deep down in the scariest place of your soul. I understood that being vulnerable was not my weakness, but my strength. I started to breathe repeating this mantra and to bring it into my daily yoga practice. Every time I approached an asana I concentrate on this mantra and I embraced my fears and limitations and something shifted both in my body and in my mind.I started to see the reflection of my soul in every pose I moved in.

Your soul is a vibrant, beating essence of our true self, though some people fear that true nature. When discomfort takes place in our life, we have the tendency to stop listening to our heart and disconnect from our “anima “. As a result of this disconnection, our body reacts by holding tension, caving in or by getting sick. Through the practice of the asanas, meditation and pranayama we are able to mend the binds that have been broken between our physical selves and our everlasting being.

To understand the concept of union that lies behind the word yoga (union between your body and soul, your breath and moments, mother earth and the sky..) helped me to empower my self, to connect to my great feminine power.

Moving from one asana (physical pose) to another, flowing with our breath, helps to create space, as well as release tension and unnecessary attachment both in our body and mind. Devotion and practiced helped me moving from a place of fear into a place of light; grounding me, allowing me to see the reflection of my soul in every pose I ever embrace on my mat. I now practice from place of stillness, with love and compassion for all that I am, using my body to discover my full potential.

Yoga is a journey in the discovering of your real self, it helps you understand that, you have to let your self fall down, not be ashamed of it and just stand tall after the fall.Yoga is dance between your body and your soul. Yoga is Union: it teaches you to embrace your light and be proud of your darkness. In this duality lies our infinite power. The true essence of our self: the ability to be both Sun and Moon, fire and water, air and substance, light and shadow.

Photo credit – Claire Sheprow