Zero Gravitas
I wanted my lightness back. Staring at the ceiling from a Swiss hospital bed in 2018, I resolved that this meant not just being back on my feet, but finding that spring in my step. Tired of being tired, I became fixated on waking myself up.
I began to devour contemplative texts from various traditions, and couldn’t help but feel they were describing the same process: of dropping the whole struggle of life. Whether that was phrased as going with the flow of the Tao, becoming enlightened, attaining moksha, finding bodhi, nirvana, prajna, satori, samadhi, heaven, or whatever, a common theme began to emerge.
Could it really be as simple as giving up the struggle? I remembered I’d actually had that feeling of floating lightly through the world as a young child, a long, long time ago. So I resolved, through yoga, to dissolve all obstacles and return to that way of being once more.
Enough seriousness, enough pushing, enough fighting, enough tension, enough strain, enough gravity and heaviness, and, if nothing else, plenty of play along the way.
Zero Gravitas. This is my commitment to life.
Yoga for Lighter Life
Almost all of us can identify with the weight of responsibility, or the pressure of life’s fast pace, and the heaviness and constriction that come with them. It is precisely these feelings that my yoga seeks to address, regardless of age or experience; I practise for a lighter life.
So, yoga may be said to begin when we tire of carrying the weight of the world. Whether in the stomach, the chest, the throat, or the head, we feel heavy where we should feel light. Often, the body gives us many signals that something isn’t right; and almost as often, we simply turn a blind eye.
In the true sense of the word, ‘yoga’ - etymologically linked to our words ‘yoke’ and ‘unite’ through the Sanskrit root ‘yuj’ - is the process of transforming this perceived burden through a series of systematic mental and physical practices. These involve ethical alignment, stretching and strengthening the body, controlling the breath, and focusing the mind.
When we sense ‘no medicine in the world can do [us] good,’ we begin to set the world aside, as naturally as day follows night. It gradually dawns on the budding yogin that there is nothing to be found outside, because nothing there was ever lost. Instead, we embark on a journey to reclaim that most vital sovereign territory: the space within. This is what yoga means for me.
Sounds to lift your movement.
In my free time I also like to mix music. I’ve curated some for flow yoga, running, and cycling. You’ll get informed on a new release via my newsletter. Click through to my SoundCloud page here.
