Pay Attention To After

The mind can overthink and carry us away even during a practice of meditation or yoga. What is important then, to place our attention upon? Ambika Devi, unravels the pairs of opposites and the idea of awareness in this short article.

Transcript

Pay Attention to After by Ambaka Devi March 28,

2022 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.

Just 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 about something having to do with yoga because when we are practicing,

We yogis are learning about and training ourselves to be in the witness state of awareness where there is no such thing as right or wrong,

Good or bad,

On or off,

Up or down,

Positive or negative.

And we are working towards harmony.

And in this place of harmony,

We are finding ourselves in choiceless awareness.

This is what yoga is here to teach us in acceptance of self,

To be content as we are and with the world around us.

Reviews

Very astute and well explained. Awareness is the key.