BYC Newsletter #32

Dear Yoga students and those interested in Yoga,

With my second eye operation to focus my eyes behind me, I’m reflecting on the meaning of this function and why it is so important, both in photography and in life, and how it pertains to yoga. Without proper focus a photograph is useless, and unlike other camera mishaps, once you shoot a picture out of focus, you can’t go back and repair in on the computer.

And in life, if we are not in focus, we make mistakes, many of which we can’t go back and repair. Usually we think of focusing our eyes, but what is more important is being able to focus our minds. Paying attention is focusing the mind. In yoga this is called making the mind one pointed. In fact, a goal of yoga is to attain perfection in action, which can be understood as being so focused on what you are doing that the mind and the action have become one, a single point.

"Just Do It,” says the Nike commercial. And yoga would add, while you are doing it, don’t let the mind wander, in fact, don’t let the mind think at all. Thus the mind, the body, and the action become one. When this “union” occurs, one experiences the sacredness of life.

This is one reason we love watching sports when a master athlete displays effortless perfection. On such occasions, the athlete becomes his sport, and he experiences what athletes call “being in the zone.” High-risk activities also create this kind of focus, because if the mind flickers for one second, death could result. But these practices are only temporary, for when they are over, one is back in his or her unfocused mind. Yoga wants to bring this unity of body and mind to every aspect of our life.

Through the daily practice of asanas and meditation, Yoga is a way to bring focus to the mind, so that when you are doing the dishes, you are just doing the dishes; when you are waiting at a stop light, you are just waiting; and when you are with your husband or wife, you are really with them. Yoga is the practice of removing the distractions in the mind that keep us from being who we are before we got distracted and lost our focus.

Yoga doesn’t say we have to become focused. Yoga says we are already focused because life is focused, and we are life. Yoga and Meditation is the practice of discovering who we already are…which is just perfect.

Thank you,
Ed
Om Peace
3/30/07
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