Being in the pose...

The pose is what you are doing.  Yoga is how you are being in the pose. 

  Rolf Gates  

This quote caught my attention and I continue to ponder its meaning for my practice on and off the mat.  “Doing yoga” is how I speak of my practice.  When I am asked, “What are you doing, Claire?”  I respond, “I’m doing yoga.” 

Some may think of this as minor semantics of language.  However for me, I find words are powerful. Our thoughts that link these powerful words together become our way of thinking.  Our way of thinking becomes our way of acting. 

“Doing yoga” implies action.  You are moving, performing, and engaging in this activity from beginning to end.  This is true for the pose or for when I am off the mat, it can be any action or activity. 

However, yoga is more than the act.  Yoga is more than the pose.  Yoga is more than the act of putting your body into shapes, stretching, or becoming flexible.  Yoga is about being…we are human beings.  Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “I am a human being, not a human doing.”  Yet, I find that I am often a human doing.  Doing this or that, without being present or mindful or aware of the doing.

Yoga is joining and connecting the past/present/future to the stillness of now.  Yoga is being in the pause between the inhale and exhale.  Being between strength and ease.  Being fully aligned and centered with our Truth.

The words and thoughts, our simple expressions begin the pattern or habit.  It is through the practice of yoga that Rolf Gates’ words ring true for me.  How do I want to be in the pose?  How do I want to practice?  Am I doing yoga or am I being in yoga?