I Missed This Mark
By Theresa Shay
Today I read my own announcement about the Prana Vidya program I’ve set up to start soon. Correct date, correct time, correct hybrid options, but…
I failed to give the program its true name.
This program is not “Meditation AND the Intentional Life.”
This program should have been called “Meditation FOR the Intentional Life.”
This small difference will go unnoticed by most. The word “meditation” will catch the attention of you who love TriYoga’s subtle practices - breathing, concentration, and meditation.
Others will see the world “meditation” and, like me when I began TriYoga 30 years ago, scoot right on past, assuming that the quiet world of sitting and breathing isn’t a priority in their very full life.
When I came to TriYoga in 1995 and observed how much of the practice was taken quietly in seated postures, I tolerated it. I did not enjoy it. Luckily, the energy was working effectively on my systems without my needing to appreciate or understand its activity beneath the surface.
As my TriYoga practice developed, I started noticing my ninth graders were frustrating me less. I had patience with their antics and more acceptance of my limitations. I was not as exhausted on Fridays. I smiled more. I found creative solutions for challenges that rose among students and teachers alike. I started trusting myself.
Within a few years, meditation and accompanying quiet practices were a part of the day I craved. I wanted to spend time in the quiet and stillness to observe what was filling my head and my heart. Some days I saw the garbage was overflowing. I learned how to dump the internal trash. I also discovered that not only was I full of cluttering thoughts; I was also full of sweetness. Best of all, I could move toward that deLIGHT by choice.
That is why the name that I gave the upcoming spring program misses the mark.
Meditation is for the intentional life. Subtle practices of conscious breathing, concentration, meditation, and mudra flows are working for us to create the life we are called to. Our responsibility is to make ourselves available by showing up.
Specifically:
Prana Vidya reveals how we are connected, held, well, calm, and bright – despite any external circumstance;
Subtle practices give the opportunity for inner wisdom to speak and guide our actions;
Meditation and other seated practices expose to us how we consume our own energy through resistance, judgement, attachment, and fear;
Consciously directing breath and focus shows us how we fritter away our life force and live in push/pull chaos without noticing;
Turning inward increases our energy, like upgrading the wiring system to 220 amps to make our bodies and minds available for a more powerful current;
The inner practices help us direct the expansive energy into our limited physical bodies, which need to be nourished and cleansed every day of our life.
Choosing to pay attention to the subtle reality makes us more patient, effective, generous, loving, creative, and powerful. The connection soothes physical pain, mental stress, and existential questions about the world we inhabit.
My personal intention to follow the flow willingly, direct my mind consciously, care for my body lovingly, and be of service to the world, is entirely fed by my subtle practice. My inner and outer world do not live next to each other as this AND that. I practice meditation FOR my intentional life.
We start Saturday, March 21, in person at 151 (5 spots open) or online through Zoom. We’ll share stories, engage in conversation, learn Level 2 Prana Vidya, immerse in mudra flows, and explore what the yogis have documented about the challenges every mind faces when it aims to exist in harmony with its Self. Most of all, we will live out the experience of meditation for this intentional life.
Theresa Shay is the founding director of TriYoga of Central Pennsylvania, where she teaches weekly yoga and meditation online and trains others to teach TriYoga®. Each week, she shares wisdom cultivated from decades of TriYoga study and practice.
Learn more about her here. Theresa can be reached at Theresa@PennsylvaniaYoga.com. Find her on Instagram @theresa_of_triyoga for more inspiration and light.