Signposts on the path to peace.

Five ways to know that you are becoming more aligned with yourself.

If you are reading this, you are on the way!

Persevering practice is the effort to attain and maintain the state of mental peace. – Bernard Bouanchaud

Our continued practice is to be calm, vibrant, and present, but it often feels like we aren’t getting any closer to peace. Despite our best efforts, most of us are still agitated, angry, uncomfortable, isolated, judgmental, afraid, resistant or an entire host of ways we induce our own suffering. Ironically, as we become more aware, we often notice more instances where our behaviors move us away from peace and we may feel more frustrated and confused.

Pema Chodron says to practice, “…for all the people just like ourselves, all those who wish to be compassionate but instead are afraid – who wish to be brave but instead are cowardly.”

So how do we know that we are moving toward peace if we continually have feelings and reactions that keep us feeling far from peace, love, and compassion? How do we know we are doing better if we still do things we know aren’t in our best interest?

The signposts of peace mark both our physical and mental yoga practices. The signposts of peace can reassure us that we are on the right trail.

Signpost 1: Awareness

We are exposed to something and we realize that we are out of alignment physically or emotionally. We may feel pressure in our inner knee, or be filled with anger and judgement. At this stage, we begin to understand that there is another way to hold ourselves. A way to keep the knees stable, but not locked and a way to be present and available without being hostile.

Signpost 2: Retrospect

We remember after the fact. We move into a pose and lock our knees or knock them in and stay that way until the teacher reminds us of how to find our alignment with physical or verbal cues. The alignment isn’t a new concept, we just don’t completely understand how to do it yet. Mentally, we remember after we got upset, over/under exercised, over/under ate, or acted and felt a way that didn’t move us towards love. We think: Why didn’t I use my breath? I could have grounded through my feet. I could have connected to my heart. I could have… Should have, could have, would have. Often at this stage we feel lazy and down on ourselves for not doing what we know we want to do. Why can’t I get it? This is a normal process and clearly on the pathway to peace. We know the direction, but aren’t cruising very fast and we aren’t too sure of the actual route, just a vague idea of where we want to go.

Signpost 3: Choice

We remember the tools and choices that lead us towards peace in the moment and we still choose not to use them. This is a hysterical human trait really! We move into a pose in misalignment, but as soon as the teacher starts approaching we know how to cue ourselves into stability and ease and do it without the teacher cueing. We knew what to do, but didn’t do it on our own without the extra awareness of the teacher. Emotionally we may have conversations with ourselves such as: I know I can breathe to calm down, but this is how I feel and I’m going to say it anyway. I’d feel better if I did yoga, but I’m going to sit on the couch. I really shouldn’t eat this, but I will anyway. I need to rest and play more, but I’m too busy. The shoulding and resistance on this part of the path can be overwhelming and clog the trail with brush making it even more difficult to see way. Take a deep breath, and know that you are still on the path, you know the direction and are finding the route. This is the beginning of an incline that requires stamina and training. If we aren’t experienced enough yet, sometimes we get so confused with an overgrown trail and a big hill that we end up running back and forth between signposts 2 and 3 and end up dampening down the trail, training for the uphill, and reassuring ourselves that we are on the right path. Here we can sometimes doubt that we can make it the distance at all, but we now know the path exists, we can tell exactly which way to go even if we are resistant or exhausted.

Signpost 4: Clarity

This is when the trail opens up to easy clear walking. We’ve made it up to the vista. Now we remember how to move towards our best in the moment, and we actually do it! Hip hip hooray! Our tools even work. We know where we are and we don’t feel lost. This is when we move into the pose and quickly go through our alignment until our energy flows freely in our stable bodies. At this stage, we remember to use our breath so that we can actually listen to somebody else’s perspective in a difficult conversation, we know how to care for our bodies and we choose to. It becomes pretty obvious that peace is off in the distance. We can see it off in the distance.

Signpost 5: Arriving

Here, we move into the pose in alignment without need for adjustment and we can invite easy full breathing and a calm and clear mind. We no longer stumble over the emotions of jealousy, fear, judgement, confusion, or isolation and eventually we don’t even crave attention, love, recognition, connection, or outer stimulation. We choose the best way before there is self-induced friction or discomfort. We’ve arrived in peace for the moment.

Peace is a moment by moment existence. The more we travel the path, the more worn the path becomes and the easier and easier it becomes to arrive. The more often we show up on our mat for practice, the further our practice goes. There are infinite trailheads, but the signs are the same. If we are on the path and keep moving, we will arrive. We may keep walking back and forth on the path between signposts for some reason, but we will still arrive. Each step along the way, forward or backward, establishes the trail. From faint, to distinct, to a trail wide enough that someone can walk side by side with us, to a trail people can see from far off in the distance, to the only route to take.

We are on the path. We will all arrive.

Our practice is working.

When in doubt, look for signs along the way.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject and about your journey.

Subscribe

Add comments here or share a picture, a sutra, and a brief interpretation on Instagram #fullmoonfruition.