Open to Grace, The First Principle for Living a Yogic Life
Living yoga is seeing the wonder of life and all the interweaving threads that unite and connect us to Supreme Consciousness, the Divine, God, Goddess, Spirit. Through this awareness we give ourselves the gift of empowerment, the ability to create and shift our reality. We get to mirror the role of the Divine in the everyday of our limited human being, and in doing so, reveal the Self to the self.
Yet, have you ever stop for that moment of grace when you actually saw with clarity how amazing you are? How much you’ve experienced, gained and lost, achieved and created? However great or small you perceive yourself to be there is always an amazing sum of who you actually are, being just who you are.
What makes me who I am is an interwoven web of circumstance, actions, intentions, taking risks, diving into and exploring the moment. Creating intimacy with one’s one life and with the world has been my journey of moving deeper into the heart of the Divine. This bold and brash way of living with creative power is to me, opening to Grace. My power comes from connecting to the bigger grid of Divine flow and order. I thought I’d share my path of exploring this source of empowerment with you.
I feel compelled to give you the end of the story at the beginning. I’ve come to realize that what makes me special is that I’m not special, I’m one of us, in a certain place and time, trying to follow the flow of Grace. What I’ve learned after years of following diverse teachings is that each has added the light of insight and the light of spirit to my being. All that I am is build upon some insight, experience, shared knowledge, writing or media I’ve taken in, in addition to all my parents, teachers and forefathers have brought to our awareness.
Each source has led me into more and more revelation about how diverse our paths are and how many ways we have learned to court Spirit. Early on in life I chose to engage in, what I later learned to call, the spiritual game of hide-and-seek. In yogic terms, this is call the divine lila (play) of concealment and revelation that the Creator plays by giving us free will and creative powers.
As I think back on it, it feels like I’ve been blessed with many a fine dance partners in this grand experience. What a treat to have even stepped on some toes and been on the receiving end as well. To my delight I’ve gotten to dance my heart out with full delight!
Over time I’ve accumulated a long list of teacher that have all imparted some insight and guidance. Most have challenged me, blowing my mind and expand my ability to live in the heart. Some I’ve overwhelmed with my enthusiasm. All have shaped me and my ability to share the learning. In this light, I thought I’d share some of the experience of my life with you, sort of a yogi’s journey holding Grace.
It is my journey towards finding my voice, my expression of spirit. The deepest understanding I have found about myself is that my ordinariness is my strength and freedom; my purpose is to teach through example and enjoy the Divine in the ordinary. I recognize that I’m here to explore, create, love, refine. To share living fully in the present, taking it all in for the gift that it is. I hold that life is a school yard and class is still in session. I still want to learn and share what shows up.
My love of study has brought me to many teachers all pointing me to the truth that Divine Consciousness is everything; everything is connected through It as a unifying quantum field. Their lessons have varied but as the saying goes, all rivers run to the sea.
My teachers and spiritual journeys have been quite diverse: Catholic upbringing, Pentecostal Christian, Buddhist, Toltec and Native American spirituality, metaphysics, raising a family, learning and teaching yoga. Each has been a force lifting me in the spiral of my ascending spirit. They have been the stepping stones of my personal journey of living yoga. That recognizing that discovering the greatness of the Divine inside oneself is the key to co-creating a full and illuminated life. Each teacher and teaching has made me who I am, and hopefully you too will recognize the teachers of all degree around you. Each offers a step higher towards the greatest vision you can create for yourself.
I am literally eternally grateful for every teacher on my journey. Each has come and gone in one degree of another but each has given me a gift. My heart has been refined and molded more towards love and service. I now strive to contribute and offer what I may to those who want to receive or listen.
I offer my gratitude as a gift of recognition to the Divine Mother, who is wisdom, flow, abundance, vibrancy, protection and loving kindness. To me, my greatest teacher is my expanding intimacy with the Goddess, the outpouring of Supreme Consciousness lovingly manifesting all things. The posts here in TheYogaCoach.com are my yogic journey into the arms of the Beloved. They are the tale of Living Yoga.
