Yoga is a Seva Practice

Welcome to November where we will explore how the practice of yoga is for the sake of seva, or service. This is very thought-provoking and the ideals of this notion are rooted in the spiritual side of the practice. When we think of how to prioritize our daily tasks, we can see the bigger picture which points us to asking “why am I here?” Yoga puts us in touch with how we attend to self-care: strengthening body, mind and spirit so we can live, but more importantly contemplating how we live: with rightful actions as outlined in the yamas and niyamas, with devotion to God (our Source), with pratyhara (tuning inward to follow our Divine intuition/wisdom, and with dedication to evolving to our highest selves (Samadhi). In doing all of these things, we cannot help but live in a service oriented way. Taking care of mind and body brings us full circle to facing and refining our spiritual practices, sadhana. The very foundation of any spiritual practice is “gratitude first,” meaning we look though the lens of counting our blessings, and then recognize that we can extend ourselves past self care to care for our communities, our world, our earth, to support those less fortunate and equally to support the elected leaders who will do that in the ways we cannot. That is why Ayurveda directs us to rub our hands together upon awakening, rub our face and eyes too (massaging and encouraging blood flow). We then look at our hands and anticipate how we will use our day to serve, to bless others and therefore to take our practice off the mat and into our day. This is how we live our yoga. Live your practice, change the world, one day at a time - Sat nam, Essential Yoga Friends! Tell us about your seva practice. Post, share (on FB or Insta or Twitter), tag 2 friends, and tag us too. Use #yogasevaEYP2019 Throughout November we will enter all posts in a drawing for 2 DVDs and 2 lavender eye pillows – one for you and one for a friend! Winner announced on Thanksgiving weekend – note winners outside the US will need to cover shipping costs.