Yoga of Alignment: Right Livelihood is the the Maha Adjustment

Happy Full Moon Yogis!

This Full Moon in Capricorn is all about balancing the CEO brain, goal setting and the planning of a majestic future with the tenderness of unstructured time and permission to “just be” without cause. Today I want to offer some larger “alignment cues”…

If how we place our bodies in a posture impacts not only the health benefits of the shape but the felt sense of “having arrived”, just imagine what placing ourselves artfully into daily life could be like …

We can spend a great deal of our time in a Yoga Class trying to regain a sense of embodiment - of being here FULLY. And it is a major blessing that we have a practice to help us do that. 

In the same way that we must ask questions about how the body functions and take cues from a teacher to find our way into our “rightful seat” or asana, we must ask questions and take cues from those who have come before us on a path to right livelihood. 

So what is Right Livelihood? 

In essence, it is a choice to engage in compassionate activity to make a living, that reduces harm and creates positive impact. The catch for most, is that it is a long-term commitment - whereas we are accustomed to qualifying yoga as something that happens in a segmented portion of our day.

Because most adults are busy earning a living (even if that living includes invisible/unpaid labor) for the majority of our lives - earning that living must be included within the Yoga or spiritual path itself for us to thrive in ways that promote DEEP WELLNESS. We must not work against ourselves by segregating our lives into sacred and secular activities. Always trying to catch up from one experience, by regaining our alignment with body, self and ways of being - on the mat. 

I would also like to insert permission to release any ideas of “what a yogi is” or “should be”. Aka. always healthy, physically fit, without bad habits, disciplined, calm in all situations, etc.

And offer permission to re-approach devotion and yoga as a commitment to living a life of service and self-love despite the imperfections of being so very human. If self-love includes physical movement, then I cry out a full body YES to that! 

The reason it serves us to create the space and time to “live the questions themselves” and align our movements with the live we truly want is that if we don’t - we WILL default to a life that someone else wants (ie. mother/father, spouse, culture, our own self-imposed “should”, etc). 

In order to find DEEP WELLNESS. . .we need clarity and clarity needs space, and INQUIRY.

We have to ask different questions to elicit different answers. 

What if the Yoga of Alignment was about asking yourself the questions you never get around to when you're too busy immersed in roles and pressures of being a “good mother” or “yogi” or “an entrepreneur” or “a full-time provider” or all of the above?

My challenge for you this month is to re-prioritize some quiet time and hold vigil for yourself: Ask questions that go hand in hand with building a life of right livelihood? And then settle into the intuitive responses and the “not knowing” aspect of questioning. Both invoke transformation. 

Examples of Questions I ask my students (during Immersions and Retreats): 

When you are overwhelmed, what do you reach for, how do you behave? … What do you REALLY want underneath that initial knee-jerk reaction? 

What makes you feel the most alive? 

Where in your life do you manifest unnecessary struggle or injury in an attempt to fulfill the need for attention / attachment? 

How would you like to gain healthy attention, and from whom? 

If you knew you could find the solution to one complex problem in the world, what would you be working to understand? 

What do you really want from a primary partnership, co-building relationship(s) ? 

(In Yoga Philosophy it is understood that private life is the fulcrum for public life experience)

Is there any confluence of your innate gifts and the complex problem you wish to solve? 

What does one ordinary, “Dream Day” look like for you?

So there you have it. A bit of quiet time inquiry for the Full Moon. In a Retreat setting the deeper questions are held in union with movement, breathwork and usually some belly laughter - making the big “Aha!” moments sharable, and workable towards a larger move towards right livelihood. 

I just want to get you thinking in the direction of Self-Inquiry and starting to ALIGN your hearts deeper desires with what you wake up and work on everyday of your life. Yoga doesn't need to be relegated to a few hours a day or a sequence of positions. You might also be inspired by this lovely Podcast from On-Being to cushion your questioning, so I’ll offer that too: Tending Joy and Practicing Delight - with Ross Gay (a bit of a throw back to pre-covid loitering). 

This beautiful planet that needs your gifts and heart on board. And, sometimes, just asking the bigger questions shows us where the healing wants to happen. It shows us where we have room to grow and trust.

Can’t wait to share my research on the Mind “as a gift of mothering” in the next Moon Queen as we have so much to gain from remembering that gifts around us come from the Mother, Motherers - even the gifts of perception that make up the mind. 

Put your heart into it,