There is a need somewhere in this world that only your dharma, fully expressed, can fulfill. The reason there is such overwhelming need in this world is because an overwhelming number of people have yet to find and express their dharma.

Yoga happens in the last 1% of a pose.

It is easy to make the mistake of thinking yoga is about touching your toes when in fact yoga is about learning to touch others. Likewise, many people think the purpose of meditation is a perfectly still mind, when in fact, it is a more compassionate heart. Spiritual practice is measured by one’s ability to ease the suffering of the world one breath at a time.

Typically, awareness is only directed to the pronounced sensations of the body—the pleasurable and the painful. In yoga, over and over again, we witness the sensations of the body—the pleasant and unpleasant; the subtle and the overwhelming—neither seeking nor avoiding, and regarding all equally and without prejudice. It is through this nonjudgmental observation of sensation that the wisdom of the body is received, true healing is achieved, and the door to the unconscious mind is cast open.

Like the tightly closed eyelids of a child trying to escape the reprimand of a parent, there is a part of the mind that needs to shut down in the face of an internal dialogue that is steeped in guilt, shame, and self-loathing.

Guilt is like tarnish on a piece of silver. It effectively obscures beauty and radiance, but can never lessen its true value. Just as the true beauty and value of silver is revealed with a little bit of polish, your true worth will shine with regular spiritual practice.

Most people spend years trying to feng shui their lives—to decorate and reorganize life in such a way that order and peace will finally arrive. One can decorate and redecorate for years, but a fresh coat of paint is not going to patch the cracks in your foundation—the only way to do this is through the practice of non-attachment.

Yoga and meditation help us to achieve physical health, emotional balance, more connected relationships, and a more satisfying life. But to measure spiritual practice by these benefits is to miss the point entirely. The truemeasure of our practice is how we respond to life when we fall short of these things—when the body falls ill or the heart breaks.

We live in a world that asks us to do rather than be; to achieve rather than shine; to form relationships that fulfill needs rather than celebrating wholeness. When we stop that cycle by practicing mindfulness, the axison which the world spins shifts entirely, and nothing you knew before will be of any value.