Yogaheart Journals
by Mandee Labelle

Realizasana

Word is on the street, Yoga 'works'.  For literally millions, we stretch and breathe, and begin to delightfully feel better physically and mentally, and that alone may surely be enough.  For some, however, that delight can inspire a curiosity to dive into other aspects of Yoga's richness.  Where the optimal health and wellbeing cultivated through Hatha Yoga may begin as the goal, it soon can become a helpful means for deeper practices and levels of realization.  After all, it is hard to meditate when your body aches, you're tired, and your digestion is as sluggish as molasses rolling uphill.

Asana means 'to sit'.  Embedded in the name of every yoga pose lies the historical origin and seed of intention of this ancient practice.  We are obviously not being asked to sit while we stand in Tadasana, but the instruction is clearly there nonetheless.  As we know, meditative sitting is a practice where, in some way or another, we continually bring our attention to what is actually happening.  That thoughts arise is something that happens, but the content of our thoughts are made up of, what Paul Hedderman calls, "What's not happening."  In general, our attention left undirected is mesmerized by thought.  We spend days, weeks, lifetimes immersed in what's not happening, while the simple miracle of it all shines brightly right before our eyes... as our eyes!

In this way, the practice of Yoga becomes an opportunity to first notice the moment, stabilize in that noticing, and then lighten the convincing conceptual overlay.  We begin to see, hear, taste, touch, smell more directly, and we realize that the minute we have a thought about it, that's not it.  It's actually a thought about it.  We realize that our thoughts, although often functional and important, are not what this is.  What this truly is remains a secret from the mind that seeks to understand, but only the biggest open secret ever.  Realization IS our very nature, known only through being it.  

Hmmm, I wonder what the posture of Realizasana would look like?
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