Wholistic Fitness

A contribution from student Yogi Barry:

Over the past 2 years that I have been taking in this gift of yoga, I have been recognizing the changes in my body, mind and how I interact with my environment. Understanding the breath and how essential it is to live in the moment and beginning to take the baby steps needed to bring focus to the mind (a task…). I recently had an experience worthy of sharing to others of how yoga brings us more aware of our environment and the environment more aware of us.

I was in the process recently of completing a personal goal, to summit Mt. Whitney in the winter, alone and as I went thought the steps of completing this task such as, planning gear, food prep, etc. I became increasingly aware of the presence of mind needed in the process of climbing the mountain. Moving with the breath, taking in the full depth of my surroundings, and observing the experience as a whole was a new experience attributed to my yoga practice that I hadn’t previously observed. I was in awe of the vastness of the creation and energy that surrounded me, and taken back by the simplicity of the meadows, trees and the creatures living within. As I breached the ridge crest and traversed the ridge through over a mile of hair line turns lying on a 70+ degree wall, I was ever aware of my breath and my movement. With each step a breath, no room for the mind to wonder. When finally I made the summit, I breathed relief and allowed the mind to wander for some time and ingest some nutrition before returning down and home safe.

From this experience the message for me was this: “To be in the moment was to make the summit and return safe from the mountain, now home to be in the moment is to be on the summit.”

Yogi Barry,