Revealing Thoughts on Balance in Yoga and Life

Yoga Sutra II: 46 reads “sthira sukham asanam” in Sanskrit.  Translation:  Asana is a steady comfortable posture.  Asana means “seat or posture”, and is defined by two qualities: sthira and sukha, stability and comfort.

Yoga teaches us to seek balance between opposing forces – strength (sthira) and ease (sukha), comfort and discomfort, heaviness and lightness.  This essential lesson can offer freedom in life, grace on the yoga mat and bring peace to our hearts.  Often times, finding balance is not easy but as we learn on the yoga mat “breathe through discomfort”.

Physical balance is not something you can force to happen.  Allow the shakiness to happen –it’s part of discovering your center.  Do your best to be calm and at ease when you are a little off balance.  What good does furrowing your brow do –or worse, cursing- when you topple over in tree pose?

Feeling emotionally balanced helps us juggle life in the midst of extremes.  Understanding that what goes up, must come down (stock market?) is a lesson of balance.  Believing that when one door shuts, another will open.  Trusting that when you get rid of something that isn’t serving you, you make space for something positive to enter your life.  These tenets help us cultivate an attitude of balance.

Learn to be okay with being a little uncomfortable as it is part of the process in finding your grounding –physical, mental and emotional.  Find peace in knowing that nothing last forever.  When something feels off or out of sync know that is an opportunity for goodness to enter your life.  No matter how traumatic something might appear on the surface, at the core of every situation there is a lesson to be revealed.  And it’s usually a lesson that makes us more balanced and prepared for the next part of our journey.