Two key elements in our lives are vitality and habitual patterns that block our vitality. As limiting perceptions and old patterns are given up and released out, we receive new vitality in our lives. In a state of vitality, things begin to open up and make more sense. We gain creative perspective, and previously unseen pathways come into our view for the taking.
As a newer yoga teacher in my early twenties, I was filled with worry. I had anxiety about my future, what I was going to do with my life, and how it would all work out. I also was in a rocky relationship with my girlfriend, and we had gotten pregnant unexpectedly. I felt excited, terrified, and yes, worried. Nine months later my first son was born, and I was married.
I worried about being a yoga teacher who had anxiety and about being a good dad. I worried I might fail. I thought any yoga teacher worth his salt doesn’t worry, but I did. Something was wrong, and something was wrong with me. The more I tried to hide this, the more a world of worry stayed with me. Worry is the reverse of faith; worry was serving as my god and was killing off vitality.
I thought my anxiety was part of who I was. I practiced hours of asana and meditation everyday, and I would get some temporary relief from my worry-heavy mind. A daily practice of yoga, meditation, prayer, and eating life-affirming foods was essential to create the framework for the vitality and purpose I wanted. Those practices alone, no matter how valuable, were not enough to set me free. Something was still missing.
Nothing shifted until I came face to face with what blocked me, what I had not been seeing about myself. It wasn’t until I hit a hard wall and landed in an emotional fetal position that I awoke from my yogic stupor and experienced things about myself I had been resisting for a long time. I will never forget the lessons from this low point. In my greatest weakness, I found new spiritual strength and experienced a fundamental shift in my being.
My first major insight was that I had been acting like I knew what I was doing in my life and teaching. Nothing was further from the truth. I got real with myself and asked God for forgiveness for living from righteousness and false pride. I requested forgiveness from several people in my life. I felt a new kind of humility and possibility enter my body.
I sat in meditation daily with the intention to see life with fresh eyes. I practiced rigorous asana to dissolve energetic blocks in my body. I looked to a higher power, and I asked Grace to guide me and help me see and hear whatever was needed. The light came back in my eyes, and I felt a new energetic pulse in my heart. I became a yes for life. I gave up righteousness, and I was an open vessel ready for a new way. I got inspired about my life and allowed my purpose to find me, and it did.
When our vitality emerges, we begin to participate in life head-on, heart-open. We realize life does have purpose. When you remove the rocks from your energetic garden, you experience a shift in vitality. Inner barriers dissolve in the purifying fire of awareness, and heaviness lifts from body, mind, and being. You are left with new space where the prana of vitality and possibility emerges. There is no value in searching outside yourself for purpose or trying to control what it should be. Purpose is always right here. Mahatma Gandhi said, “As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as in being able to remake ourselves.”
I can now see I’ve always had the ability but lacked the awareness and methodology to live from my center. I now know most of the troubling situations and ego-survival reactions could have been sorted out without struggle and worry.
Growing up, my dad would talk to me about the courage it takes to live a transformed life. At the time, I didn’t get it, but now I do. In any circumstance, we have a choice to act and live from the true north in our hearts and in alignment with who we know ourselves to truly be, rather than automatically reacting and feeling powerless. Living a life connected to vitality and purpose requires us to be true to ourselves.
Habitual patterns block our vitality. When we give up and release limiting perceptions and old patterns, we receive new vitality. Through personal transformational practices to restore vitality, we find the ground rules for our lives. A new opportunity of context, a new paradigm and way of being to make a difference for others and the planet unfolds. From here, each of us can answer, “What really is important to me? What is my life really about?” I believe these questions hold the power to literally alter the course of humanity.
In Baptiste Yoga, we use a set of practice principles and methodology to rinse and dissolve old energetic blocks in body and mind and to be in personal inquiry that leads to authenticity. People experience new vitality and awaken to a deep, spiritual sense of purpose.
I’ve learned vitality and freedom come from serving others and making an impact. Who you are is someone who can make a difference. Clear out old life patterns that block you, and replace them with practices aligned with your true nature and purpose. The Buddha said, “If you contribute to the enlightenment of even one human being, consider yourself blessed.” Your power comes from making others powerful. Live on purpose. We have a choice of who we are and how we impact the world.
Baron Baptiste is the founder of the Baptiste Power Yoga Institute and creator of Baptiste Yoga. Baptiste was born into a lineage and heritage of health, yoga, and spiritual educators. For over twenty years, he has impacted people as a teacher and catalyst in the realm of personal growth. www.baronbaptiste.com
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