Again and Again - It's about the Practice.

The most important part of any spiritual practice is doing it. That is why we should always just "do the practice" and not be overly concerned with or focused on what we think the results might be, or even on our own state of mind. The truth is, it can't be what we think! It just is! It is not up to us to create it - we are simply cleaning the mirror of our hearts so we can see the reflection of our own true face without distortion.

- excerpt from, Flow of Grace, by Krishna Das

Again, it's about the practice. Nothing else.

It's so easy to get side swept by controversy and uncertainty within the community. But, at the end of the day, what is most important? Is it the controversy of unforeseen events, or is it the daily visiting of the internal quest? This is what I ask myself, when I feel I'm being sucked into something that isn't in alignment with Truth.

The ego loves complication. The ego loves to assume things, and separate people into a million different subdivisions. With the core of what the word Yoga means - it being Union - often it seems to be the last thing many want to focus on. It really is that simple.

The phenomenon comes in where the physical components and the tool itself take precedence over the essence behind why we practice, which is where the Realness of the whole experience Is. This has been at the center of my contemplation lately.

Of course we are in these bodies and responsibility comes with that. However, it is the tool, and only that. One of the ways I explain to students who may obsess about certain postures - and believe me, I've been there myself, and in no way state I'm immuned to it - is the example of a flute or even a sail boat. Often these things are insignificant without wind in the sails of a boat, to help move it along. Or how can a flute make beautiful music, without conscious breath being blown into it? Without that, they're only dense objects with no life.

The happiness we can receive by mastery lasts longer than temporary joys. We should all become masters. That is true freedom and real victory. If you are free from your own mind and senses, nothing can bind you: then you are really free.

- Sri Swami Satchidananda

The daily experience of our practice can lead to a quest for ego satisfaction or a quest for connection - joining - letting go. The days when the movement becomes a struggle, I take my awareness to my breath, and observe that I had been absent to it for the duration of struggle. Or, maybe thoughts ventured off to where my ego felt I needed to be. Ah-ha. No wonder. How easy it is to forget, but also how easy it is to remember.

Yes, there has been some talk regarding the uncertainity of where the practice is heading, but I don't look to uncertainity as a bad thing. The boat needs to rock from time to time. However, adding drama or hearsay into the mix doesn't bring us any closer to Truth. Only the simple practice of connection does, and that starts from the inside out.