The winds come to blow the sands of deception

There is a Navajo saying, “The winds come to blow the sands of deception, so that man can know the truth”

In application of this sage phrase to our asana practice, we can be humbled by our own deceptions when the asana’s reveal to us how limited we are in that moment, if we remain steadfast in our practice then the asana’s will come to blow the deceptions away allowing us to see the truth for what it is.

Everyone has their challenges, be they physical, emotional, mental or in any combination thereof. They can be confronting at minimum, there will always be discomfort in periods of growth, but we cannot remain the same if where we are, is in dis-ease.

There is a certain amount of vigilance we need to adhere to our practice when meeting our challenges. Often we desire rest and are told or tell ourselves this will bring that solace, but when we get up and try to walk the distance of the market, our legs ache, our back pains us. The rest was deceptive and contre indicative of what we truly needed, it put us back further in point of fact. The work of our asana must be continued with patience, trust, desire and confidence at all times, our stamina might be different the length of the practice may vary but the belief, must always be the same.

There is a moment for restoration and there is moment to realize that restoration is not the action to bring the alleviation we search. We must go deeper and only a strong asana and pranayama practice will bring us within to the place we can observe ourselves, and manifest the force to overcome what we observe. Once the observations are clear we can begin our work anew.

“If you have doubt, practice ….and see who wins”- BKS IYENGAR
Kara Thorsen
The Little Yoga Room