I recently read an article that interviewed some of the top senior yoga teacher in the United States. Teachers who have been teaching for over 25 years. The big ask was "what do you think the future of yoga looks like?" And without much hesitation across the board almost every single teacher said that the practice of yoga was moving away from an asana (physical poses) based practice to more of a focus on the actual eight limbs practice of yoga. Meaning yoga is moving into a much deeper place than just handstand and bendy poses. It is moving into the awareness of the mind, body, spirit connection. The awareness and practice of nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, non-hoarding, cleanliness, contentment, purification, study of scriptures and sacred texts, surrender to God, asana, pranayama (breath), concentration, and the ultimate connection to our higher power. I'd love for us all to start to move a bit deeper beyond the attainment of poses and explore together the deeper (and more challenging) aspects of yoga. One of the first ways to deepen your practice and create change in the world is through Sadhana...

One of the biggest practices that we can move into this time of year is finding our own Sadhana practice at home. Sadhana means DAILY spiritual practice. It is the foundation of all spiritual endeavors. It is your personal effort to connect spiritually and to get yourself organized. Sadhana is incredibly grounding and most of us already have a practice of Sadhana without even realizing it. This is the easiest way to organize yourself, get clear, and to find gratitude during a heady time of year when we tend to lose focus and give up our goals. Sadhana doesn't have to be elaborate or lengthy, it's personal to you. If each of us dedicated a small piece of our time daily to creating a personal practice (even just 5 minutes) this is the quickest way we could see change in our world. Here are some tips to creating your own Sadhana practice at home:

• Set a time daily that you can devote to your own spiritual practice. Even if it's five minutes. If you can devote a longer period of time, do so. Put it in your calendar and commit to it for 40 days.
• Get creative! What do you need in your practice? If you have 20 minutes maybe you start with 10 minutes of meditation or prayer and then 10 minutes of sun salutation to move the body or 10 minutes of working on a pose or two that you want to explore. If you have 5 minutes maybe it's just sitting quietly in meditation or prayer. If you have longer pick and choose what moves you and what you want to do for your time in this sacred space.
• Dedicate a space in your home for this practice. Create your own altar, shrine, or practice space that you can come to daily. It doesn't have to be elaborate-but let it be personal. Let the very presence of a this space be a reminder of your practice every time you pass by it. In NYC in my small one bedroom apartment for years I used a window sill as an altar and just had a meditation cushion in front of it--that was enough to bring me back over and over again.
• Make part of your ritual begin with that first cup of coffee or tea. Or perhaps part of it will be reading an article or a book that feeds your soul. Again, it's creative and doesn't have to look a certain way.
• Once you're done with your practice, let it go. Walk away without judgment and expectation. The magic of Sadhana works in its own infinite wisdom.

Let this practice keep your grounded and organized so that you can enjoy the holidays. Meditation and prayer organizes us so that we come down from the clouds. It demands that we organize our thoughts so that we can see beyond them. So often we give up because we feel we haven't done the work. Let the work be attainable for you so that you can complete it, and then enjoy flying through your holidays with family and friends. Together we can change the world by first going inward and organizing ourselves.

Namaste

www.justinrandolphyoga.com