Mount Laguna Yoga Story

We waited for the sun to set. Then we hiked back to the cars. We had a lot to carry back, mostly equipment. It took about an hour to go back.

It was getting dark very fast, and somehow I got ahead of the film crew. So I decided to rest and wait for them. I sat on my bag right on the trail.

I was in the middle of a huge grassy field surrounded by mountains and forest. The grass was about two feet tall and it swayed with the wind in waves and circles. There was a dark silhouette of a mountain in front of me, and right above it, in the purple sky, was a single star. It was so incredibly bright. I think it was the North Star.

It was really quiet. I could see bats flying through the air. And I could hear crickets singing in the distance. I could detect the fragrance of the desert in the air, with countless flower blossoms dissolved into it. For a few moments, I was completely immersed in that experience.

Then something curious started to happen.

I found myself saying: "OK, this is really beautiful. See that mountain there. Look at the star and the sky. See the bats flying. Smell the desert, and so on." My mind started to explain what I was experiencing. So consciously I had to tell my mind to stop it, to let go, to just be.

I found the present moment again. But soon, the mind switched on: "What if there are coyotes in the grass? Or maybe there are deer? I wonder if I could hear them or even see them."

I stopped the mind once again, and just told myself to be. This went on: from being present to being mental, then back to being present. Until the film crew found me on the trail.

This kind of mental chatter happens all the time to all of us. We are living in the mind rather than in the present moment. It is possible to spend the whole day immersed completely in your thoughts. There are times when it’s OK to do that. But that’s really not living, not being alive.

Yoga practice gives us the time to notice this restless nature of the mind. It’s common to get distracted and get involved in the mental monologue. As we progress in our yoga practice, we begin to spend more time in the STATE OF PRESENCE AND PURE AWARENESS - OUR NATURAL STATE.

If it happens during the class on this Yoga DVD, catch yourself doing it, and try to draw yourself out by asking yourself:

Where is my body right now?
What is my body telling me right now?
How far to stretch?
How much to let go?
How fully to breathe?

Ask yourself some of the above questions and FEEL (do not think about) the answers. It may take you only a few seconds, or you can spend a whole hour.

Additional questions:
What am I experiencing right now?
How is my breath?
How do I feel in my heart center, in my gut center, in my third eye/intuition center?

Use your body and your breath to find the present.

I hope you enjoy and benefit greatly from this yoga video.

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