Embracing the Present: The Key to Inner Peace and Joy
What if connecting to your inner peace, joy, and bliss was easy? Would you do it?
When I taught Power Yoga, I noticed a common theme: the most stressed-out students would endlessly fidget or even leave during savasana (corpse pose). The thing they needed most was the most difficult for them. They relished the vinyasa flows, balancing on one leg until muscles burned, sweating, and breathing heavily. But lying still at the end of class proved too challenging. I found it fascinating that the more wound-up the student, the more difficult savasana was for them.
Even now, I notice that the people who need Yoga Nidra the most are the ones who find it very difficult. This is not to say that those who love Yoga Nidra do not gain benefit from a regular practice, but that the people who really need it find they just cannot do it.
We tend to move toward what we like and away from what we don’t like. This is the nature of the egoic mind, which moves toward what it wants and away from what it doesn’t want. Our suffering lives in the moments between wants. Once we get what we want, our sights are set on a new want because the ego is never satisfied. This constant striving prevents us from being in the present moment, robbing us of the opportunity to accept whatever is happening.
The reality is that we make life harder on ourselves than necessary. What we seek, we already contain. Inner peace, joy, and bliss are our true essence; the task is to drop what is obscuring it. Our ego constantly distracts us from the present moment, becoming one of the main obstacles to experiencing our true essence.
Mindfulness practices such as meditation, Yoga Nidra, or any activity that brings you into the present moment help us access our true nature. The longer we stay in the present moment, the easier it is to access our inner peace, joy, and bliss.
“It's about letting everything happen (the good, the bad, and the ugly!) with acceptance and awareness while welcoming in an organic flow of life. It's not about resisting or racing ahead, but relying on the moment and the magic of life to let you flow with trust.” - Michael Singer
I personally find Yoga Nidra the easiest way to access present moment awareness. Relaxing into the moment seems simple, but for those caught on the hamster wheel of life, it can be a truly challenging practice.
Whether you find Yoga Nidra easy or challenging, it is profoundly helpful in connecting you to your true essence of peace, joy, and bliss. So, what if it was that easy? Dropping into the present moment and accessing the abundance of peace, joy, and bliss that is your inner essence. Would you do it?
Good news! Yoga Nidra Zoom Classes are resuming this week! So whether you are a Yoga Nidra devotee or Yoga Nidra virgin, come join a welcoming community of people who are opening up to their true inner essence through the power of relaxation. Be a rebel! Drop the to do list and relax into your inner bliss!
Yoga Nidra Zoom Class - Wednesday 7 pm MDT - email me for the zoom link @ kirstengoliver@gmail.com
