day 38

I have been re-reading Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison, "...365 meditations...offer[ing] a way to integrate the mindfulness that yoga teaches into everyday life." Throughout these meditations the aspiring yogi learns The 8 Limb Path of Yoga. I've been back and forth in this book for the past year. I had read the better part of the mediations, but sometime ago I decided to start fresh at day 1, sometime in December. Today I am on day 38 and learning my lessons of the yama, Brahmacharya (you can see clearly its not a daily thing). But, no matter what day it may be, I seem to always read something very 'of the moment' and truly inspiring.

This specific yama is synonymous with moderation and continence. Hand in hand with deliverance, brahmacharya is the 'sit back' attitude and our opportunity to ride peacefully on the waves of truth. When we have balance at our core, we begin to see balance in every aspect of life. It in fact becomes our only way of seeing, we base our thoughts, our words, and our actions in temperance. We begin to realize that this is the way of the heart;  brahmacharya, moderation, temperence, balance...however it may be said, is the foundation of the soul.

"When the practioner is firmly established in continence, knowledge, vigor, valor, and energy flow to him."
- Yoga Sutras