Joyful Practice...

These days I am consumed by this word "Samyama" which means "Simultaneous" in English. It's the idea, a moment, which concentrator (meditator), the act of concentration (meditation) and the object of concentration all separate but merged.

In Samadhi, the practitioner, the action and the object of the action all merge as one consciousness.

This is why we feel so good after a yoga class. As the practitioner, we are focused on our practice and our bodies; the object of the action. All 3 exists still separately, what merges them together is the breath...So without the breath, we do not have the experience of consciousness. Completing each day with the full potential of the present moment, joined to the momentum of all previous moments and moving into a future potential. This is yoga.

Yogis talk about arriving to the potential of the pose then resting. The sutra says" Your seat should be steady and joyful" the seat mentioned here is the pose, whatever they maybe. When we are learning the pose finding the steadiness and joy may not be easy but that's what we are aiming for; the moment of mind, body and pose merging. Joy is the natural result of that merging. But until we reach to the point of mastery in a pose (which may take a lifetime for most of us) we can fake it and smile in our practice and choose joy, anyway!