Love and Yoga

There are many things that we each love in this beautiful world—people, companion animals, places, activities and (my personal favorite) food. Over the years of practicing and studying Yoga I have come to love it very much and feel so fortunate that I can make this my life’s work. Let’s consider some of the ways Love and Yoga go together.

Yoga teaches us how to love ourselves more. For the past decade I have struggled with hip, back and leg pain. Over time I developed a good program of massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, floating, meditation and yoga to help me cope. Then the pandemic hit two years ago and I lost access to all the outer supports that helped me. I learned about self-reliance; only I have the ability to save myself. When I asked myself “why do I want to get out of pain?”, once I got past the obvious answers of “I want to practice yoga, walk, sleep better, etc.”, the true reason rose to surface: “I want to love myself more.” For the first time, I have pain relief.

How can you love yourself more?

Yoga expands love in our hearts. Yoga is part of an ancient tradition that includes devotional chanting and honoring one another. Have you ever said “Om” and “Namaste” in class? These are really important practices because they increase love in our hearts and show us how to send it out to others. If you want to connect with this energy even more, try chanting this mantra: AHAM PREMA (uh-hum pray-mah). It means “I am love.” I once did 10,000 repetitions of this mantra and it really helped me see and understand the energy of Love in the world.

How can you expand love in your heart?

I am touched by this quote from the Persian poet Jalal al-din Muhammad Rumi:

“Love is the water of life; jump into the water.” -Rumi

I hope your explorations of Yoga bring you more deeply into this amazing realm of Love.