Sunday, March 6, 2011

Love Minus Zero / No Limit

















Yoga Sutra I.2

Yoga is the uniting of consciousness in the heart.


Yoga Sutra I.33

To preserve openness of heart and calmness of mind, nurture these attitudes:

Kindness to those who are happy.

Compassion for those who are less fortunate.

Honor for those who embody noble qualities.

Equanimity to those who actions oppose your values.

The brain, thought to be the provider of thoughts, develops much later than the heart. The heart remains independent in its rhythm until near the time of birth, when the central nervous system takes over the regulation of the heart. From then on the heart is reliant on the brain, and subsequently feelings seem to combine with thoughts and become virtually indistinguishable.

(from A Woman's Guide to the Heart and Spirit of the Yoga Sutras: The Secret Power of Yoga, by Nischala Joy Devi)

Listen.

What I love about yoga is what I learned from my first yoga teacher, that yoga is not a competition and that it does not matter how flexible one is, but it does matter that one experiences where one's limits are and explores them.

3 comments:

Loren said...

Love that last line.

Anonymous said...

I've always wanted to read a description of how the heart and brain merge like this. Thank you.

The Solitary Walker said...

Yes, I love the last line of your post too.