The Sanctuary Blog

  We all have various capacities for willpower inside. Your ability to use your will to break through barriers and overcome obstacles will be different from the next person’s. But there will be times when your willpower—no matter how strong—will not be enough. There will be times when the only way to access the strength you need is through collapse, through surrender . There is a hidden reservoir of strength available to us when we become vulnerable enough to touch it. Life runs on duality, always pulsing between two poles. Sometimes you feel as strong as a mountain. Other times, as humble as a blade of grass. The idea that we can always be at our A-game is one of the most destructive myths of our culture. It is not with nature. Just as night gives way to day, our energy will rise and fall again and again. Most of us only value the high. But our greatest power is in the low. When you are broken, tender, at your weakest point— that is the moment of greatest potential . ...

  There are certain triggers and dials inside us that can massively alter our experience of Life. Our experience of anything is always down to what is happening inside of us. We are creating our experience in each moment. This is why a million people can go through the same thing in a million different ways. Yoga is designed to give us access to these internal dials. For example, you know what it feels like to try too hard. If you’ve ever tried too hard to have fun, you’ll know it’s the surest way to have the least amount of fun possible. On the other hand, we also know what it’s like to check out completely—to not give anything of ourselves to the experience. That too guarantees not much fun. What we’re really looking for is the razor’s edge. The place where we are fully engaged, without pushing too hard. This is Lila. The play of Life. The ability to be right at our edge… not giving too much, not giving too little. We all have the capacity to over-give, and we all have the capa...

  It would be a real struggle if there was no deeper purpose to Life. What a drag it would be if it was just eating, sleeping, going to the toilet. Thankfully, there is more. The Yogis keep pointing us back. Not out there, but in here. Everything you are looking for is already here. Peel back. Drop in. It takes a kind of reversal. Because the senses are trained to rush outward, to search for what feels lost. But the irony is — nothing essential can ever be lost. Our true nature can’t go anywhere. It is always the case. Sat Chit Ananda — Truth, Consciousness, Bliss. And yet, when we don’t look within, we are propelled to search outside. This is the state of humanity — looking for the lost pearl. Looking for joy, meaning, security, love. And the Yogis say: “Yes, look for these things. But look in the right place.” We are blessed. Karmically graced, really. We’ve come across tools to dig with. Whether a teaspoon, a spade, or a digger — eventually, everyone ...