"The Study of yoga is not about anything external to you."

Gary Kraftstow reminds us that, "It is important to remember that the study of yoga is not about anything external to you. It is about studying yourself and learning tools to reduce the undesirable things in your life, like back pain, and increasing the positive things, like happiness. It is about refining yourself at all levels." In "Watch Your Back", a December, 2007 Yoga Journal, article Kraftstow reminds us that we can easily learn yoga techniques and use them to feel better and address our health concerns. This has been "Gary Kraftstow" week for me. His ideas inspired my classes. "Asana is fundamentally about moving awareness in the body and then about moving energy in the body through awareness." (American Yoga by Carrie Schneider). That is what it is all about, building body awareness through yoga asana and using that increased sensitivity to move energy in your body. It is not esoteric, it is accessible to every yoga student. When you increase your awareness of the soles of your feet in baddha konasana can you use that to increase awareness of your feet in standing poses and then in inverted poses when your feet are in the air? Your own personal body map will have many new data points. This feedback can help you tune into your body, give your thinking mind a bit of a breather and increase your ability to address your body's dull areas. Can you move energy in your body? In yoga practice sometimes it is "all about you".