Roots that Reconnect

   Of all the gifts of a dedicated Yoga/Life practice, perhaps the most profound and precious is the sense of being at home in your Self.The misconception (avidya) of separation which is the root of suffering, according to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, is also the path back towards unity.  Yoga is both the yoking of two entities and the union itself. It is the decision "between a body and mind....to be whole" and the body/mind which was always one. 
 In Yoga for Real Life Donna Farhi explains that "the word Yoga describes both a state of purified perception and the practices associated with attaining this clear way of seeing. The two meanings of the word give us some insight into the intimate link between the effort required to attain understanding and the imminence of realizing that which is already present within us."
 We seek outside of ourselves for home, wholeness, love, peace, contentment, serenity and so on simply because of a fundamental misunderstanding that what we are seeking can be found somewhere else, with someone else, sometime in the past or future. The path and practice of Yoga offers tools and technologies to guide us towards a complete recognition that what we are seeking is right here, right now. Yoga invites us to turn attention inwards to align awareness with presence and reconnect to the roots within, a network which intimately and infinitely connects us to Spirit Source God Universal Consciousness the Divine.
     A beautiful mantra which expresses this truth is this portion of the Gayatri Mantra, also translated by Donna Farhi: 
"Everything on the earth, in between, and above is arising from one effulgent source. If my thoughts, words and deeds reflected this complete understanding of unity, I would be the peace I am seeking in this moment."
om bhur bhuvah svah
tat savitur varenyam 
bhargo devasya dhimahi
dhiyo yo nah pracchodayat 
    Chanting this mantra is one simple way to come back to the home which is already and always within.