“Finding balance.

Balance of heart & head,

adventure & stillness,

sound & silence,

self & community,

safety & risk,

ocean & mountain….

the beauty in each as they call you home.”

Yoga means “to yoke” which means “to join.” There is a lot of focus in yoga on the “unity” of mind and body, breath and action, but it is not lost on me that a yoke is also an instrument of work. This wooden tool is placed over the necks of a pair of oxen to pull farming equipment. With this in mind, I think it’s also important to note that “to yoke” requires balance. The work towards our goal of unification becomes more difficult if we are imbalanced. Imagine a yoke shared between two oxen where one is twice as tall and twice as strong as the other. We may think the taller, stronger ox will end up carrying more weight, doing more work, but we can imagine how the yoke would tilt putting more weight and pressure on the smaller, weaker ox. In either case, the imbalance is so immense that both become weakened and ineffective. Our lives are the same.

If we put too much time, energy or attention into one area of our lives, it makes it harder to build up the other areas. Slowly the begin to weaken, which eventually effects all areas. What are the areas in your life where the yoke is weighting too much on one side? What is so imbalanced that neither side is effective? Most often we see this imbalance in our relationships to others and self, work and play, and action and rest. If the yoke is leaning to heavily on one side or the other, it becomes destructive and detrimental to the whole. How can we join the seemingly opposing areas of our lives so that the weight is born evenly and we come into balance?

Exercise: Identify one thing you can do this week to bring a little more balance into your life. Perhaps this week you take 5-minutes to meditate or pray BEFORE checking emails in the morning. Maybe you switch that second cup of coffee for a glass of water or you turn off all devices to spend the last 30 minutes of your day in a quiet and calming activity like taking a bath or reading. Maybe you need to get out of your head - whether that’s a cocktail night with your friends (even if it’s virtual), a dance party at home, or a long walk outside. Whatever it is, commit to one day, every day, until you’ve made it through the week. See how you feel at the end. What will you take away from this? What will you carry into next week? What was easy or difficult? Just notice what comes up. Unity comes from balance. Balance in yoga isn’t about poses, it’s about life. Let’s even out that yoke, and bring some balance into achieving our goals.