1. Water has no goals. Water just flows without any purpose and still benefits all sentient beings.

We can live our life without any specific goals that cause us stress and anxiety and still benefit others.

2. Water keeps moving to stay pure. If water becomes static it becomes impure and causes diseases.

We can move to stay healthy.

3. Water understands impermanence. It transforms from gas to liquid to ice and from a raindrop to a river to an ocean.

We can learn to recognize the impermanence and changing nature of everything in the universe and not get attached to things or people

4. Water adapts. It takes the shape of the container it goes into.

We can learn to adapt to any difficult situation that we face in our lives.

5. Water settles for the lowest places. It always flows downwards.

We can learn to be humble and not fuel our egos.

6. Water is soft, but still it has the power to erode rocks and metals. And even cause tsunamis.

We can practice compassion and  still overcome the greatest challenges in our lives.

7. Water is fearless. A river faces its death when it merges with the ocean.

We can also be fearless when facing our death. The way a river merges with the ocean, similarly in death, our individual consciousness merges with the universal consciousness. As this merger is something beautiful and inevitable, it doesn’t make sense to fear it.

The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj,

meaning to yoke or to unite. Although yuj has many variations and uses, its essence conveys a sense coming together or connecting. Much of what we focus on in the practice of yoga is the bringing together of the disparate parts of ourselves and making them one and then in turn embracing the actualization of the oneness that unites all things. 

This underlying philosophy of oneness has always been there. We just don’t really have the ability to comprehend it in its totality because we are humans. We strive toward understanding by splitting things up into categories and applying labels as we struggle toward the concept. For example, I can tell you to focus on the tip of your nose, but in seizing that focus, you are not focusing on your right knee cap. It’s not simply the idea of multitasking—it’s the idea of being able to experience being present in a larger way. 

A theme or concept I sometimes use in yoga classes has to do with physically shifting weight. When I used to dance the awareness of shifting weight was essential to my progress and execution. Whenever I was challenged by choreography, my main question was, “Where is the weight change?” Weight is always distributed on one foot, two feet, or no feet. Dance is the shifting of weight and in many ways, so is life.

You can physically experience savasana (aka-corpse pose) by feeling the weight of your body. You feel your points of connection with the mat, with the earth. You can start to feel weightless when you move away from the physical sensations; the weightiness of being a body ceases to exist. You start to experience the feeling of oneness and there is no separation between your body and the space around you.  This sense of oneness is powerful, and you can bring that awareness with you into your daily experience. This means that it can expand into a recognition of oneness with all sentient beings.

According to chaos theory, “It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.” Applying this to the concept of oneness, every breath we take whether it is an inhale or an exhale effects everything around us. Think about all of the people in the world breathing and moving and how each one of us effects everything else. And this is just on a physical level. Imagine the effect of people’s energy, actions, and intentions. When you realize this—every movement you make within the world has profound meaning and depth. This is not meant to stifle or paralyze you. This is meant to empower you. You are a part of the oneness. Move through the world with all of the thoughtfulness and presence of mind this realization deserves.

Success is a loaded term. Just like all words in our lexicon, it has picked up baggage over the centuries. Many good people equate success with wealth and/or fame. This is understandable because these things offer a level of comfort and security, but they really have nothing to do with success. In all honesty, is this how we want to raise our children, encouraging them to believe that success is equivalent to material wealth? Or that they are successful only through the validation of others? I know our complicated world forces them to confront this daily, but we can give them more. We can instill a sense of worth built on more than empty achievements.

The first definition given by the dictionary for success is “the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.” I share this with you because it reveals a fundamental truth about success. Success is an end. The force of the word termination always snaps me back to reality.

We spend most of our lives not in success but in falling short of success. In fact, this is where we learn, grow, and evolve. These aren’t always pleasant and carefree activities, but they are good. You have to be less than successful in order to be alive.

I would like to believe that being successful is being your best self. This road is never straight, and it is always a moving target. We take a step down one road, turn back, go completely off the path, get covered in mud, pick wildflowers, fall in a hole, brush ourselves off, and start again.

Success is completing something to your satisfaction. It can happen one day, but not the next. On that bad day when we feel like we have failed or lost, it’s important to remember the preciousness of this less than successful moment. We can harvest this moment, plant it, and nurture something beautiful in ourselves. Don’t run toward success. Instead foster goodness in yourself and spread it through the world. Redefine success as a process, not a termination. 

The other day while discussing my virtual yoga studio with my 86-year-old Dad he asked me, “Don’t you just teach the same class every single lesson?” I think he was concerned that I would become bored or be boring to my students. This is an assumption of many people who don’t regularly take a yoga class. It’s an understandable conclusion and yes many of the same poses are practiced at most classes, but they are never the same.

    Let me explain. I teach an Ashtanga Yoga class each week and the series of postures we do are always the same, but the practice of these postures are never an exact replication because you are never the same in doing them. In other classes I may invite practitioners to do the same sequence with a different physical or mental focus. For example, focus on your pelvic floor muscles, practice with your eyes closed, coordinate each movement with your breath. Each of these seemingly miniscule alterations transforms the movement and practice, and your body and mind adapt to a whole new experience. Often times a student brings their own burdens or delights, and they are personally moved to experience postures as never before.

We have a choice on how we perceive things. Perception and mindset are how we navigate our world and shifting them is always within our grasp. There is simply more to taste when we allow ourselves the flavors of different perceptions; we allow transformation.

    This brings me to the concept of resiliency. Resiliency seems to imply an element of unchanging—returning to one’s original form after being bent. But the beauty of true resiliency is that it is, more often than not, an evolution. It can be a conscious choice to grow and adapt to the changes around you. Bend, instead of break; pivot, instead of staying rigid. You can move in a new and perhaps unexpected direction and be okay with that; you can stay true to yourself through change. This can make for a more fulfilling life. I hope that I help people see this possibility in themselves. I hope to assure them that they have the resiliency to change their mindset or focus, to add more color or flavor to their life.

 Right now, we are living in a time when resiliency and perception can save us. Yoga studios have been closed and may stay closed for a while longer. We can close ourselves off, shunning alternatives. Or we can adapt. Take yoga virtually. Learn to practice with a different perception, even when the cat likes to climb on you while you practice.

 Choose resiliency. Choose to pivot. Choose to thrive.