Thankful for Another Year

It's my birthday. I've had a great day.

One of the things I've done today is look back and take stock of the year that has passed since my last birthday.

In the past year I:

• taught in Mexico for the first time,
  
• bid farewell to my Mom as she made her journey to the next life,
• struggled with failing eyesight (I'm 45 years old),
• started praying and meditating consistently for the first time in my life,
  
• started teaching yoga at a new yoga center in Columbia,
• joined the choir at church,
• quit the job I've had for seven years, to start a new one,
• started writing a Daily Yoga Tip, and
  
• designed, imported from China, marketed, and sold products in the US and around the world.

I could not have predicted most of these things would happen. Some of them I've had a role in. Others, it seems, "just happened."

I am thankful for my life and the people near me. My family, my students, my firends and colleagues are, for the most part, loving and generous.

They're loyal, too. What I haven't listed above are my many failings, which they have graciously overlooked.

For all of this I am grateful.

Of course, this is a Daily Yoga Tip, so I must say something about yoga.

Practice contentment. Be satisfied. Try. Earnetly make efforts towards your goals, but then be accepting of the results that come your way. This is a profound spiritual practice taught by the sage Patanjali.

"Of the five Niyamas (observances)... the Second is Santosha, contentment. Patanjali urges us to live life from a place of satisfaction and delight with whatever fate may bring, knowing that all is for the highest good. Santosha reminds us to live in gratitude for what we have rather than yearn for something else. Tapas, the third niyama, is austerity and self-discipline. Tapas literally means "heat." With burning desire, we are to do whatever it takes to endure "the heat" as we pursue our goals." (Johanna Mosca, PhD)

Don't just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry
www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., If you'd like to give me a gift for my birthday, please send me an email today. Let me know if you've benefited from from any of my Daily Yoga Tips you've read. I'd like to hear how you've been helped. Or, send me a question or topic you'd like to hear about. I love to hear from you.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.