Resolve to Evolve

tara-4by LauraLynn Jansen

 

Many decades ago a resolution was made quietly to myself. May I always LIVE life to its fullest. This silent commitment is now part of a deep habitual pattern fully integrated into my daily living. Contemplative practices immersed in over the prior year (to cope with radiation and chemotherapy treatment) were no longer just tools, but the foundation to being honest with myself. That promise remains an intricate part of me still, decades later.

Back then I knew nothing of Patanjali, or Yoga as it is known in the current modern world. I was closeted about my daily practice of mind stilling, and breathing and stretching. I am sure I was certainly labeled a hippie-type and didn’t want others and their “box-putting” antics to deepen their assumptions about me. It was a time before the Internet, so all my knowledge was discovered by reading books or if lucky, a trip to the big city by the Bay where a few trail blazing teachers taught.

Never could I have guessed all those hours of stillness, alone with my thoughts of living, dying, pain from the treatments, and fear of the future would be the basis of a life practice decades later as I approach my 30th year of survivorship.

The insights gained through intensive, deep life reflection/Yogic practice and awareness during my twentieth year of life remains a grounding force still. Back then I formulated a request, to the Divine Spirit of us all, please never let me forget the power of evolving. Please keep me aware of the preciousness of life. Please allow my life to be of some purpose beyond my own happiness. Challenges and surprises encountered often make me wonder what was I thinking to place such an intention at such a young age? Never did I think this way of relating would become my actual life path. Now with Yoga, as mainstream as personal computers, and part of my public persona I am deeply grateful I kept the commitment. Each time I am able to share this powerful life path with others, I feel as lucky as those moments when I learned from the Yoga teachers of the early 1990s.

Questioning the place of Yoga as our culture emerges from the Iron Age or Kali Yuga I feel an urge of a new kind. It prompts me to question, what now? This urge provoked the questioning that led to the formulation of theYoke. The Yoga impulse encourages me to unite with others to offer this tradition in a way that all may partake as teachers and students (despite access issues). I know for me the creation of this organization is a culmination of all multiple decades of applying Yoga in my life every moment I remember.

So why now is Yoga blossoming? Is it here to assist individuals and the larger culture to bring in images-24another Golden Age THE BIG move of self and assisting each other toward this evolution? Excitement, and a bit of trepidation, well up in me as I consider what next. Inquires of how others evolve has been of particular interest to me, especially in light of my own personal immersion over the years. What assists them in progressing? Are advancements important to them? Often the answer conveys a desire to focus and expand self so they may “help” others. These words provoked theYoke’s creation and offerings, such as Root of the Lotus. More conversations start the momentum, co-creating and planning assemble the possibilities, and implementation brings it to the real time. I hope you will join this kula of thinkers, feelers and doers. (tip: put in the code “LL” when you join … 1st 50 members receive the continuation to my story –Inspired to Live, the Story of an Unlikely Rebel).

Namaste.