Through steady yoga practice, we recognize a feeling of inner stability on all levels of our being. When we feel a constant inner stability in our mind, body, and hearts, we discover freedom of expression.

This freedom of expression that we experience allows us to remember a basic tenet of Yoga philosophy which is rooted in our connection to our Innermost Essence.

When we forget or become disconnected from our Innermost Essence, we experience human suffering. One major form of our suffering derives from our attachment to what is constantly changing.

Change Affects Us

Life keeps changing. It’s the nature of life. Often, the underlying angst we feel in our bodies / minds stems from identifying with that which is constantly changing including our

• roles and responsibilities
• relationships
• current positions.

As well, we tend to give absolute priority to changing conditions rather than anchoring in our abiding Inner Presence.

Regular Yoga Practice Helps Us

Our yoga practice invites us to seek what is underlying all of the movement of the outer world. Through steadfast practice, we explore ways to turn our attention from the outermost expression of Life to our Innermost Essence.

While the concept of inner stability and connection to our Innermost Essence is very esoteric, through our yoga practices this philosophical concept becomes very tangible.

Inner Stability through Meditation

In our meditation practice, we turn towards our Innermost Presence as we open up the space beyond action, for our deepest awareness to emerge and imprint in our conscious awareness.

We begin to loosen our attachments.

Psychically, this means the intensity of our focus on thinking softens while we weed out self-limiting internal views. Furthermore, we begin to watch the landscape of our emotional heart-mind flow and change as it will, more spontaneous and creative with each new breath.

Inner Stability through Yoga Asana

In yoga asana practice, we turn towards our Innermost Presence as we move and align our bodies, consciously activating our potential for expressing strength and decisive action.

We begin to loosen our attachments.

Physically this means our breath ripples more through our body. We feel an increase in our stamina and flexibility. In addition, we begin to watch patterns that limit how we move and relate to ourselves. We gain space while limitations melt away with each new exploration.

While practicing yoga at home or online has value to help us maintain steady practice, when we come together in retreats and in-person yoga classes, our understanding and connection increases.

Practicing together, in-person, creates stability in our shared experience. Our shared experience is not the expectation that we will all feel the same way in a pose or have the same experience moment to moment. Such an unchecked assumption plays out a level of conformity that is diminutive of each individual’s experience (and has been disproven through quantum physics). 

Our shared experience is the knowledge of what supports each of us exactly alike – the Innermost Presence which is

never absent, always present (Nischprapanchaya), without judgment, steady and peaceful (Shantaya).

These words – Nischprapanchaya and Shantaya – are found in Anusara Yoga’s Invocation.

We don’t always know how to articulate it, yet we feel it. The ancient Sanskrit words carry this understanding of connection to Inner Stability across time.

When we practice together, we tap into this shared experience together. This shared experience is often called the Kula of the Heart. Kula means “community” in Sanskrit.

When we establish our awareness within our Inner Presence and stability, it inevitably leads to great ease in our daily life and lessens the suffering that is born from trying to stabilize in what will never stand the tests of time.

But it doesn’t end there. Through the practices of Yoga, we steady ourselves in the Essence of Life that we all share, as our own Innermost Essence is ultimately universal.

Everything is made up of the same basic components of Life. For example, take the 5 elements of

• oxygen
• hydrogen
• nitrogen
• phosphorus
• carbon.

As well, consider the 5 elements of

• fire
• water
• earth
• air
• ether.

All of Life is built upon the same universal support. While this is common knowledge, it’s not necessarily an enlivened experience that provides us a reliable base of support.

Through our yoga practice, we begin to see ourselves in one another, called equal vision, and to hold space for each individual to grow and express freely. From stabilizing within the Essence of Life, we are less bound to uphold the changing surface of life. Ultimately, inner stability both unites us and frees us.