Attaining Eternal Joy
Wendy Reese, RYT

Through yoga, the practitioner learns
to observe and to think, and to intensify
his (her) effort until eternal joy is attained.

     - BKS Iyengar

Well, having not quite hit mid-life, I could not begin to teach you about eternal joy. Sounds good, though. One of those long-term goals we spend our life working on- like exercise and diet, being nicer, and sending birthday cards on time. I am more about being fully present right now. I have no promise for the next moment.

If this is IT, then if I obtain joy in this moment, well, I have reached that eternal joy.

My mind constantly races. Being an only child, I have a very vivid imagination. If I don’t know the whole story, I just make up the information that fills in the gaps. Tends to be a not-so-healthy approach to life. I have been working very hard on this, though. My mantra this year has become, “It is what it is”.

I am learning that I can’t hold on to things, to people, to goals. Once you grasp at or cling to them, you lose the moment. The entire focus is changed. What exactly are we grasping for or clinging to anyway? The “thing” or the feelings associated with it?

So we learn to sit. We observe. We question; sometimes without answers. We think. Then usually question some more. We sit longer. We observe on deeper levels. The questioning and thinking really kick in. We let go easier, faster. We find one day, that our outlook and attitude has changed. We’ve intensified our effort. In those clear, beautiful epiphany moments, as Mr. Iyengar promises, eternal joy is obtained.

Namaste