Yoga Doesn’t Make Us Feel Good

For at least a few moments in our lives, it is very likely we will live the experience of finding the profound clarity which provides us with the courageous permission to partake in a previously unimaginable personal action. Or maybe we’ll ecstatically welcome that unexpected rush which can only be delivered along with the brilliant idea that suddenly emerged from our soul. Or we may feel that sparkling joy in a moment of supreme connection with someone or some thing or some place.

What of that feeling of pure assurance experienced in the moment of asking that someone to marry us, or the exciting surprise at that fresh and incredible idea that impelled us to spring into action, or the overflowing joy rushing through with that first embrace of our newborn child? Consider that such experiences are not making us feel a certain way at all. What is happening is that these experiences are unearthing our true self—our very real and very owned essence. It’s these precious moments in which we’re gifted the experience of self, and we only need one such experience to provide us with that feeling tone as a reference point. Ideally, when these moments occur, a good practice is to sit with it, feeling it and allowing it to permeate our entire being. Ingest it into our soul, for it is this reference point or touchstone which we can compare our future physical/spiritual sensations, in order to sense or taste what is right and what is true for us. This feeling/experience is us arriving back to our self, our essence. It is us connecting with our supreme purpose for being here in our body at this time.

We can use our reference point to correlate or measure our current vibration or state of clarity. It’s not a matter of attempting to recreate the experience, rather when we’re presented with a complex or difficult choice, we can call upon our reference point to feel how close we can come to that sensation when considering our options.

Consider that there is a massive misconception amongst yogis when we think ‘yoga makes me feel good’. Yoga (mindfulness) does not make us feel a particular way. What is more accurate is that our practice helps clear the fog that distances us from our true self. It is the reemergence of our true self that feels so damn wonderful. The fog is made up primarily of our thoughts; the ones that cause doubt, the ones that distance us from that touchstone, our reference point. The fog is also a byproduct of our habitual actions—most of which, when we’re willing to sit with and experience them, feel very distant from the experiential feeling of our reference point.

The contentment, the joy, the excitement, the lightness, the bliss, the surrender, the peace we experience from any life event is simply us feeling our true self, or at least getting closer to it. Practice creating the happenings that help unearth our reference point, which open us up to allowing our touchstone to show itself more and more. Our trust in it will grow, as we’ll become more and more familiar with it. And that’s a good thing, because it is the real you and me.

See you in the practice room,

Don