We had a wonderful workshop this past weekend on using yoga therapy to relieve neck pain. Lots of happy necks in the room! But it got me considering how it’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking things will be better when [fill in the blank]. You know what I mean, don’t you?

Things will be better when
-my neck stops hurting
-I finish my degree
-my kids are grown
-spring arrives
-I get the promotion
-[insert your dream here]

I got to thinking how Yoga has a completely different way of responding to Life. Yoga asks

What if everything is fine as it is right now?

As we were moving our necks mindfully and observing how far is too far to cause discomfort, as we moved in our pain-free range of motion, I pointed out how this is what it truly means to be a practitioner of Yoga:

I am present. I am aware. I accept things as they are without needing to change them.

Surprise! When we are able to rest in this awareness, Life begins to shift on its own without any interference from us. Even our neck starts to feel better. I know this to be true because I have seen it over and over again in my life and in the lives of my students.

This is the essence of being a yoga practitioner: As we stay with ourselves and look clearly at the circumstances in which we find ourselves without running away, ignoring or otherwise needing to fix ourselves, we begin to see more clearly into the deepest meaning of being a human on this incredible journey.

So what if everything IS fine as it is right now? How might you respond to Life?

We were talking about love and cannoli this past weekend at yoga school. They fit together nicely, don’t you think? And it made for an interesting discussion of what we love, why we love, and how love really is the thing that makes the world go ‘round.

I grew up in Chicago and during the 1970s my family moved into a suburb that had strong Italian-American heritage. Not being Italian myself, I was fascinated by the culture and the cooking. I fell in love with cannoli, so different from any other dessert I had ever had. The women who cooked in the local restaurants and markets made the best Italian food and, of course, the best cannoli.

Several others in class had stories to tell of eating cannoli in Italian neighborhoods in other cities. The longing for a delicious cannoli set in but with no way to be transported back in time or to a location where we could have something that we love.

This thing called “love” is interesting to consider. Valentine’s Day may be overly focused on romantic love, but love in all its forms truly is a beautiful thing in our world.

Love shows up in many other ways beyond romance—the love we have for companion animals and Nature, loving the work we get to do whether its vocational or avocational, loving music or art or the written word, and definitely loving food like an amazing cannoli.

Here’s the thing about love that gets me every time: Love can never be diminished. You can give love to all of those things I listed—and more!—and you will never, ever have less love to give. In fact, love actually increases the more it is shared. Hey, you can’t say that about a cannoli; if I have two cannoli and I give one to you, well that only leaves one for me. But maybe we can sit outside on this beautiful day and eat the cannoli together, celebrating the love that multiplies and never fades away.