“Time to die,” said my yoga teacher.  Savasana, or corpse pose, is the last asana of each class.  It is a time to give it up; all the stress, negativity, self-doubt.  Surrender any residual thoughts around or of the self.  Raise the white flag, release.

Self-indentiy is fused with universal-identity.  In Western society, we cling to individualization of the self, viewing ourselves as separate and complete entities from the world that holds us.  However, we are not complete without realization of our interconnectedness with other selves and the Infinite.  Individualism to the extreme becomes disconnected autonomy, an illusion of the self as independent from the will of Chance, Fate, God, the Unknown, or The Universe.  Extreme individualism breeds contempt for other human beings.  Viewing ourselves as self-contained vehicles for gain of material wealth or happiness, our sense that perceives the self as One with all selves is numbed; we do not truly know who we are.  As all beings must coexist, so must our souls, or spirit-selves.

A self is constructed upon spirit, or soul.  For now, we can consider the two terms synonymous.  A false-self or ego is like a magnet that attracts material objects.  It has no foundation upon which it can realize itself.  That is why the richest woman on the mountain, surrounded by various jewels and possessions, is unhappy.  She does not know who she is.  Her false identity is comprised of objects, her attachment to which was gratifying and then miserable.  We can be happy with ourselves, by ourselves, as ourselves, without people, places and things that can mislead and misdirect toward something that looks Absolute but is not.  The process of self-knowledge is one of discovery; embrace and honor the self As It Is, without any attachment to the people, places and things that orbit around it.  Celebrate your-self, your spirit-self.  Anything physical disintegrates.  You are eternal.  Connected to your truest, purest, highest self; to the Breath that nourishes and heals the body.  It Is In Your Nature To Be Happy.

Practice “sustainable being.”  We have the power to decide the kinds of energy we invite into our lives.  Energy that quenches the soul’s thirst–perhaps a thirst unrealized until you drink–elevates us to a higher plane of thinking in which we learn to identify what serves us versus what does not.  Love is that Energy.  Embrace and internalize what feeds the spirit-self.  With our spirit-selves, we lead.  The Yoga practice is about kindling the power within to radiate and shine brighter than any “bling¹” that shrouds the soul.  Be the bling.  You are it.  All else will follow.

The light in me bows to the light in you.  Namaste.

¹Yes, as in “bling-bling,” plural for ornamental jewelry that looks really heavy.