May at LRY: CONCENTRATE

I've spent the last few weeks tidying up my front yard- building a stone wall, weeding, clearing old brush, laying a path, visioning for the future. It has become a running joke that what I think will be 30 minutes in the yard turns to 3 hours. Time slips away when I am concentrated on pulling stubborn weeds from the roots, or selecting the perfect stone to fill a space in the edging.

Concentration is like that. It draws you into a current of reality that flows outside of time. Our yoga practice can be like that too. We cultivate focus, precision and deep interest in our present moment experience. The thinking mind recedes and time bends as we slow down.

Concentration grows our capacity by harnessing inner resources. One way to practice concentration is to focus the mind on a single point (like the breath, or rooting down through the foot, or pulling weeds.) To be more fully present to life, concentration can also mean channeling all of our skills, wisdom and inner power into the present moment with a willingness to let go of what is a distraction, an old pattern, or a disservice to the here and now.

To concentrate is to move from fragmentation into wholeness. In wholeness, liberation awaits.

With love,

Christina