In the past few years I have become interested in cooking. I have always enjoyed baking cookies and cakes, but now I am starting to play with combinations of grains, vegetables and spices, as well as mixtures of colors and textures.

I have a number of cookbooks and regularly search for recipes on the Internet. Most of the new recipes are accompanied by pictures. With the picture and list of ingredients, I can usually imagine what the dish will look and taste like, but there have been some notable exceptions. Although my ability to envision dishes is improving, my imagination can never match smelling, tasting, and feeling the texture of a meal.

In addition, I learn something with every meal I cook. When experimenting with new techniques, blends of spices, and combinations of ingredients, I find methods and tastes that I like, and some that I will never repeat. While I occasionally watch cooking shows for enjoyment, I usually have to practice what I have seen to gain the full benefit.

As the owner of the yoga studio, I am typically asked a few times a year by people who have never done yoga whether they can observe a class. I always direct them to try a free sample class instead. The sample classes are representative of the regular classes, but very basic. The teacher explains what yoga is about and leads the students through a class.

All classes begin with centering where one focuses the mind on the flow and rhythm of the breath. As thoughts of the day fade, the mind and body calm. Next, the class moves into a series of basic poses. Moving and stretching in the various postures often creates a feeling of openness, strength, and wellbeing. The class ends with final relaxation where the instructor guides the class in softening and releasing each part of the body. As one relaxes, the limbs begin to feel heavy and the mind quiets. Focusing and calming your mind, then feeling your body move and finally settle is entirely different than watching a roomful of people and imagining what it would be like. Observation falls far short of the experience.

Even after twenty years of practicing yoga, whenever I take a class or workshop, including those at beginning levels, or when I practice at home, I learn. Sometimes it is a new way of doing a pose or a better understanding of my body. Occasionally there is a flash of understanding, a “light bulb moment”, where something I have read or heard about before suddenly makes sense. These realizations would never occur if I was not actively doing the practice. It has to be lived.

Yoga is considered an experiential discipline, and one cannot get the full experience by simply watching or reading about it. Similarly, looking at pictures of food may make your mouth water, but it is much more pleasurable to eat the meal. Life is richer for the experiences we have. Although it is often easier to sit back and watch, we miss so much when we do. Instead of being an observer of life, participate, experience and enjoy.

I just finished reading a book about Enron. I have a friend who worked there, but before reading this book I never understood how California’s energy crisis, shell companies, and deals with banking institutions fit together to cause the failure of this large energy company. It came down to greed by a few people at the top eager to enrich themselves with little thought for their employees, their stockholders, or those, like the people in California, who were indirectly affected by the Enron executives’ single-minded focus on the next profitable, if unethical, deal.

The Vedas, ancient philosophical texts, divide human lives into four stages: student, householder, forest dweller, and renunciate. In the first two stages, one lives in the world, first learning from a teacher and then managing a household which includes having and supporting a family. Once the second stage is complete, the next two stages focus on withdrawal from the world. First one separates from the attachments of family and society, and then one withdraws completely to focus on spiritual practices.

The householder stage is important because it supports the other three stages. In this phase of life, one has a career, provides for a family, and meets social responsibilities. Wealth is not viewed negatively; in fact, money and material possessions are necessary to support and sustain a family. However, it is essential that wealth is ethically obtained and used.

The Yoga Sutras, another philosophical text, describes how to live an ethical life in relation to others with practices called Yamas. Though entire books have been written on the subject, in short, the Yamas are:

• Nonviolence or non-harming towards others and ourselves.
• Truthfulness in word, thought, and deed.
• Non-stealing of physical objects and intangibles such as taking credit for the ideas of others.
• Moderation of the senses. Not allowing the senses to control one’s actions either by overindulgence or over-restraint. This includes one’s relationship to food, what one chooses to listen to, watch, and read, and remaining faithful to a partner in a monogamous relationship.
• Non-possessiveness. Not being too attached to possessions or acquiring more than is needed. Also, not being overly controlling in relationships with others.

The Enron executives and those involved in the more recent banking scandals clearly did not live by the Yamas. They harmed others, lied to and stole from investors and stockholders, used the resulting income to live lavishly, and some used their money and standing in the business community to influence politicians and regulators. Though these top executives lived the high life for years, many ended up disgraced, powerless, and incarcerated.

If we choose to practice the Yamas, not only will we make the people around us happier, but in the long run, we will live happier lives ourselves. Each situation presents its own difficulties and it is challenging to apply all five Yamas in all situations. Nevertheless, remembering the Yamas and setting an intention to attempt to follow them when dealing with others is a good first step. Are you willing to try?

In January 2009, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) sent letters to over twenty yoga studios in the state informing them that because they had teacher training programs they were considered postsecondary vocational schools and as such they needed to obtain a Certificate to Operate. The paperwork required for the Certificate is extensive and the fees are beyond what many yoga studios can afford. My lawyer and I thought the law did not support SCHEV’s position since yoga studios are more focused on personal development than vocation, so we sent a letter back to SCHEV stating our case.

Because I was one of the first people to disagree with SCHEV, by default, I ended up spearheading the effort for the Virginia yoga studios. As the result of a tremendous amount of support from yoga studios, teachers, and students from all over the state, there was a petition drive and two letter writing campaigns. Delegate David Bulova and Senator Mark Herring introduced bills in Virginia’s House and Senate that redefined vocation, and as we go to press, the bills are awaiting final votes in the General Assembly.

At the beginning, as I was coordinating the effort by contacting and organizing studios around the state, I knew what everyone was doing and had a basic expectation of what the next step would be.

Most of us, when given the choice of being in control or out of control, would choose to be in control. The helplessness that comes from being out of control can be quite scary or depressing. However, with control comes responsibility. For me, this created an obligation to the other Virginia yoga studios.

As the bills were written and introduced in Richmond, the legislative process took over and though my input was requested and accepted, my influence was limited from that time forward. At one point we ran into a problem with the House bill, and there was nothing the yoga studios could do to move it along. I was discouraged that we had come so far only to have our effort grind to a halt, but there was also a sense of relief that I had done everything I could, and my obligation was lifted. Fortunately, Delegate Bulova worked with SCHEV and other delegates to get the bill moving again.

There is freedom in not being in control and not being accountable for every detail. You can just flow along with the tide and let whatever happens happen. Some of the most exciting and memorable events in our lives come about when we are not in charge: a surprise gift or an unexpected adventure. If we are in total control, we would never have the joy of accomplishing something new because the result would be predetermined and there would be no excitement in reaching a goal. Sometimes it is uncertainty that makes life interesting.

There is so much in life we cannot control like Mother Nature and other peoples’ actions, but all of us must exercise some self-control for society to work. Managing our emotions and actions gives us stability and creates a feeling of safety and security. However, the line between being in and out of control can be thin, and when we control too much, we lose spontaneity and miss many of the simple joys in life.

When you are anxious, angry, or overwhelmed, are you attempting to direct something that is beyond your control? If the power to shape the result is not in your hands, you may feel a sense of peace and relief if you can recognize this, do your best, and then let go.

A few months ago while I was washing dishes after dinner, my sink began to fill. I flicked the switch for the garbage disposal and heard the electric hum of the motor trying to start. I turned it off, and then tried again. This time it hummed and clicked off. And that was the end of it.

After looking on the Internet and talking with a salesman at Home Depot, I thought it could not be too hard to replace the disposal on my own, so I bought one and brought it home.

The first step was to take the old disposal out which involved disconnecting it from the dishwasher and drain pipes. It was only one step in the instructions, but it took almost an hour of twisting in and out from under the sink. The previous owners of my house did a lot of their own repairs too. Unfortunately, it appears that when they could not fix something immediately, they improvised and added parts until it worked. The plumbing under my sink is no exception and instead of one obvious bolt to loosen, there were several to choose from. I had to take the whole mess apart to get the disposal out.

When I started to install the new one, it became apparent that the instructions were intended for someone physically bigger than I am. One step involved balancing the twenty pound disposal in the outstretched palm of one hand while locking the unit into place under the sink with the other. I am just too small for that, so I lifted it in and out several times before I found a combination of milk crates and phonebooks to support it. By the time the disposal was installed, it had required over twice as long as the instructions said it should take beginners.

Although I expected to be sore the following day, I was surprised to find that my arms, shoulders, and back were fine. My stomach muscles, on the other hand, hurt for days afterwards. I was relieved it was only my stomach because there had been a lot of opportunities to twist or lift improperly and to pull or overuse my shoulder, arm, or back muscles. Instead, I had used my core and kept my joints safe. I attribute this to yoga; not only the strength and flexibility, but the ability to move safely.

In yoga poses we are putting ourselves into positions that are not our normal everyday movements while focusing on alignment. Some of the poses can look rather challenging at first glance. However, as you study them, you begin to see that one body part is twisting, another is stretching, and yet another is toning to provide stability. People who are very flexible or strong can do some poses fairly easily, though how deeply one moves into a pose is not as important as awareness of one’s body.

Usually at some point everyone discovers they have imbalances. For example one shoulder does not move as readily through its range of motion as the other, twisting one direction is more difficult than twisting the opposite way, or one hip is tight compared to the other. By working with these areas over a period of time, they can be brought into better balance. In areas that cannot be changed, we learn to move safely in a variety of positions. In time these new movements become habits, replacing old patterns, so when presented with a new situation, our new habits protect us.

This concept of replacing habits with ones that are better for us can be applied to all aspects of our lives. If we notice when we begin an unproductive series of thoughts and consciously replace them with more productive thoughts, or if we intentionally change an attitude that does not serve us, we can change our moods, our reactions to those around us, and our view of the world. As with the body, the first few steps may be slow and require work, but eventually the more productive habits take hold and you may find that your reaction is entirely different and more to your liking than in the past.

If you have ever seen a statue or picture of a Hindu god, the first thing you may notice is that it has multiple arms and legs and sometimes even multiple heads.  From a Western point of view, it looks a little odd and is very different than the Greek and Roman statues and European artwork with which we are more familiar.

The representations of Hindu gods are complex in their symbolism and there is meaning in their clothing, hair styles, gestures, and poses.  When there are multiple arms, often each hand holds an object, such as a book to symbolize wisdom, or an axe to represent liberation by overcoming darkness and ignorance.  Sometimes a hand makes a gesture that represents an intention, like a blessing or reassurance; it may also indicate a quality such as pure judgment or that the god is in a meditative state. The multiple pairs of arms show more aspects of the god than is possible with a single pair.

Though the symbolism of the statues may not be familiar to many westerners, the concept of having multiple aspects to our personalities and lives should be. If you think about your normal day, there is a good chance you naturally and unthinkingly switch between several roles. You may be a breadwinner, stay-at-home parent, wife, husband, sister, brother, yoga student, runner, biker, shopper, and so on.

If you are curious, write down all the titles and words you can think of to describe yourself. Do a few words or the entire list completely explain who you truly are?  It is unlikely that a single title, or even a list, can fully characterize all that you are, all that you do, all your thoughts, hopes, and dreams.

When I was young, for a few years, I was slightly disappointed on my birthday because I did not feel any different than I had the day before.  A birthday was such an exciting day, and I expected there to be some type of spectacular change because I was a year older. At some point I figured out that though it was a notable day for me, changing a number did not change me.

It is easy to get stuck in viewing ourselves as just one or two labels rather than recognizing ourselves as multifaceted individuals. Often the key ways in which we see ourselves relate to our job and family status, though as with everything else in life, these are impermanent. If we change careers or retire, get married or divorced, have children or become empty-nesters, our lives change, and often so does our view of ourselves. However, who we are underneath those labels is not altered.

Each label describes a part of us, but at some point, words and descriptions fall short. Can you step back from your labels and appreciate all that you are?

In the movie Broadcast News, Holly Hunter plays a stressed-out Washington D.C. network news producer. Her job is fast-paced and she is under constant pressure. As an outlet, every morning unplugs her phone, sobs for two or three minutes, plugs in her phone again, and begins working. This emotional release leaves her ready to handle the intense demands of her day.

I thought this was interesting when I saw the movie, but I could not imagine anyone intentionally crying in real life until I went on a ten day hiking trip several years ago. All of us knew hiking in the mountains would not be easy, but the daily hikes were far more rigorous than we expected. We had an altitude change of at least 3,000 feet most days and one day we went over a 15,000 foot peak with little time to acclimate. By the end of the first week, everyone was cranky from sore muscles, lack of sleep, and altitude problems. In the middle of a particularly miserable part of the trail, one woman stopped and burst into tears. She said she needed to get her anger and frustration out of her system and this was her way of doing it. She sent us ahead and caught up with us about 15 minutes later. Subsequently, she was more cheerful than the rest of us for the remainder of the trip.

When we are stressed, our tension expresses itself in some way. We may be grumpy and unpleasant to those around us, overeat, or have tension headaches, insomnia, or some other set of symptoms. In one of my first jobs, I was not exercising very often and did not have any tools for managing stress, so it manifested itself as illness; a lingering cold that lasted for six months. It magically vanished within a few days of leaving the company.

Tears are not for everyone. One man I worked for said that when he was in college he would go out into the woods near his apartment and yell as loudly as he could. I have friends who run, swim, and practice martial arts. They do these activities for exercise and because they enjoy them, but also as a means of blowing off steam. For me, walks and a daily yoga practice provide an outlet.

The Washington area tends to be very intense and even more so now with the current economic pressures. It is very easy to let our worries and fears build up inside of us. Most of us cannot just stop and burst into tears, though some days we may feel like it. However, one of the best things we can do for ourselves is to find some way to release the stress accumulating inside. We may not have a daily cry like Holly Hunter’s character, but if we can find a way to create little releases in our lives, we may feel better and be healthier.

My first car was a Chrysler Colt. It was a small car and I had to turn off the air conditioner to accelerate onto a highway, but it was all mine and I loved driving it. After about 9 years and over 100,000 miles, it began to require major repairs. A month or so after one part was replaced, another part would break.

One afternoon as I was leaving work, I discovered a long scrape down the passenger side of my car. Someone had misjudged pulling into or out of the space beside me and had dragged their bumper down the length of my car. I was upset for a few minutes as I stared at the damage and then it dawned on me that how it looked was no longer of any consequence. I had to buy a new car soon and I just had to keep this car running until then. With that thought came a feeling of freedom. If it got a scape or another part started to fail, so be it, and I stopped being concerned about the Colt’s condition.

If the world is divided into those who are packrats and those who are not, without a doubt I fall into the packrat category. I am not very good about throwing things away. Though I may not have used something for five years, who knows, I may find a need for it next week. Even worse, sometimes I do, which immediately justifies keeping everything else. I have a friend who is my opposite. She goes on cleaning sprees and weeks later realizes she threw away something important like a bill she had not paid. When she tells me about this, I find it even harder to declutter.

In truth, the majority of the time the things themselves are not the problem, it is the emotional attachment I have to them. Realizing it was pointless to fix the Colt’s scrape released my attachment to it. I have a harder time throwing away a gift received years before or a postcard sent by a friend. I know in many cases it is not practical to keep these items, but the emotion is there.

As the winter comes to a close, it is the classic time for cleaning house. A good spring cleaning clears away staleness and opens the house to the light and warmth of the season. This is an optimum time to clear away the clutter that has accumulated over the year.

Clutter is not just the physical items we hang onto long past their useful life, but can also be the thoughts and routines in which we have become stuck. Do you find yourself repeatedly reviewing events or conversations from your past or continuing to follow a routine that no longer serves you? Can you let it go? Just like physical objects, these all have emotions attached to them and it is easier to hang on to them than to release them. However, just like cleaning house, the freshness that is created by mental spring cleaning allows more space and freedom in your life.

Many years ago I worked on a weather-related computer project that was extremely data intensive; numbers streamed into our system every hour of every day. My group wrote programs that created graphs, charts, and other visual displays that our client used for analysis. Central to the system was the database that stored the information used to create our graphics.

Unfortunately, in an effort to save money the company used an old database that was not designed to handle such a large task. Though the data flowed in well, we could not get it back out quickly. When trying to do a quick check of the weather, we sometimes would wait upwards of two hours for the results to appear. Of course, by that point, the information was outdated.

Not surprisingly, the project failed. The database was the foundation upon which the entire project was built, and when it did not work well, the rest of the project crumbled.

In yoga poses, the foundation of a pose is crucial. If the foundation is not set properly, the entire pose is off. In standing poses, if the feet are not placed well, the alignment of the rest of the body is altered as the legs, hips, back, shoulders, and head all shift to compensate. Balance may become more challenging, and the strength and flexibility benefits may be lessened or negated. When the feet are placed well, the rest of the pose can be built above them with a great degree of control and stability no matter how complex or twisted the pose may be.

All of us have some type of base upon which we build our lives. These essentials may include our network of family and friends, our health, our jobs, and our possessions. However, one constant in life is that there is always change. Nothing stays the same forever. Some changes are sudden: an accident or winning the lottery. Others can be anticipated and prepared for: starting a new job, moving to a new city, or the birth of a child, though the full ramifications of any change, major or minor, are usually not completely predictable.

When there is a significant change, our lives shift. What was important beforehand may become completely unimportant afterwards. Winning the lottery may make money worries disappear, but may cause a variety of other problems. When a child is born, the wellbeing of the baby and a good night’s sleep become the new parents’ focus for quite a while. A health crisis may cause us to examine our physical habits and modify the way we eat, move, and exercise.

Often a change forces us to examine what is really important to us, and we focus on the necessities. How well we adjust depends in part upon the solidity of our base. If we have set our foundation well and know what is truly essential, we can weather all of life’s changes.

A few years ago, a tree fell on my next door neighbor’s house and its branches fell across mine. The tree had been about 60 feet tall and a crane was required to lift it off of our roofs. The tree removal company’s representative said that because of the position of the houses and the size of the tree, a large crane that could lift 70 tons was necessary.

The next day when the crane, the crane operator, and the operator’s assistant arrived, the crane operator was clearly not happy. All that was available was a 35 ton crane and so what should have been a routine job was now difficult. Since the crane was small, it did not have the height or leverage of a big crane. Instead of parking the big crane on level ground in front of the houses and lifting the tree straight back into the woods, the smaller crane had to be balanced on a hill to the side of the houses and the tree swung out sideways to avoid decks, windows, and other houses. Though it took over an hour of preparation, the tree was finally lifted away. Other than some minor damage to my neighbor’s gutter and a board on his deck, it went well.

The assistant stood beside me the entire time describing the process. He was impressed with the crane operator’s expertise. The assistant said he probably would not be able to handle a tree like this for at least two or three more years. The crane operator, who had been working with cranes for over 20 years, said he had spent the evening before drawing out different scenarios. Though he made it look easy, he said it was one of the most difficult jobs he had done in a while. If there had been a slip, the tree would have demolished my neighbor’s roof, upper floor, or deck.

When someone makes a task look easy, we often fail to recognize the skill involved. I had never watched someone maneuver a crane or thought about the expertise required. If I had not spoken with the assistant, it never would have occurred to me that this was challenging.

We are accustomed to a certain level of proficiency when interacting with others. Have you ever become impatient with a person who is learning a new task like a young driver who is driving so slowly and carefully he backs up traffic or a new cashier who cannot figure out a store’s cash register? Yet we have all been a novice at some point. Do you remember the first time you cooked or ironed, or your first day at your first job? If you can smile or wince at the memory, you have probably come a long way since then.

We have spent a lifetime developing our skills. Though our abilities may seem routine to us, it would be hard for someone else to replicate all that we do in a normal day in its entirety. An indicator of experience or skill is how smoothly and easily we perform tasks, but like the crane operator’s assistant, we all need to begin somewhere and have the patience to learn and allow our abilities to grow.

Have you ever noticed that when children describe what they want to be when they grow up, it is always something spectacular? They want to be a princess, an astronaut, or the president.  There is never any doubt; the world is wide open to them.  They do not see the limitations, only the possibilities.

This lack of limitations, and at times common sense, can get children into trouble, like the assumption that they can jump off anything and be perfectly fine.  I put my parents through quite a lot. My platform of choice was the swing set and I jumped off it many times.

As we get older, we begin to experience the limitations the world imposes on us and gain some sense of self-preservation. As we do, our expectations change. We learn that gravity really does exist and that falling hurts sometimes.

This sense of self-preservation keeps us from doing crazy things that could cause us bodily harm.  However, when taken too far, it restricts the scope of what we believe is possible, which reduces our willingness to extend ourselves.

One of the joys of teaching yoga is watching people experience what is possible.  Many times when I demonstrate a new pose, the class’s reaction is negative, something to the effect of “I can’t” or “I’ll never be able to do that” or just laughs of disbelief.  When people try the pose themselves, many find, much to their surprise, that it is possible to get into some semblance of the pose.  They may not have the flexibility or strength to move into its final form, but on that first attempt they achieved more than they expected.

Balance poses tend to be viewed as pass/fail poses; they either work or they do not. Usually the more complicated the balance, the less likely there will be instant success. Repeatedly falling out of a balance can be discouraging, yet each time we fall, we learn.  When we finally do succeed, the success is sweeter due to the effort it required to get there.

There are many things we cannot do on the first try.  If we gave up the first time we tried to walk, none of us would be walking today.  Almost anything we accomplish requires steady effort. When you find yourself saying “I can’t,” take a step back and see if this is something that probably is not wise, like jumping off a swing set, or if it may be doable like learning to walk.  Many times a better phrase is “not yet.”