No Effort is Ever Wasted...Shining our light

Reading from Monday, February 27, 2012 yoga class

"It's one thing to begin a yoga practice, quite another to keep it going.  Mr. Iyengar says that our practice "waxes and wanes like the moon."...There are times when you can't wait to practice, and practice feels wonderful; there are other times when the last thing you want to do is practice, and practice itself feels like a visit to the dentist.  Don't get discouraged if things don't go well for a few practices in a row.  Progress in yoga is never a straight line-- it's more like a spiral...sometimes loving and close, other times cool and distant.  Sometimes you'll seem to be making enormous headway, other times you'll seem to be sliding downhill.  Remember... from the famous Song of the Blessed One (Bhagavad-Gita 2.40)... "On this path no effort is ever wasted, no gain is ever reversed; even a little of this practice will shelter you from great sorrow."  Treasure the good times, but expect the hard; rest assured that every student, no matter how raw or advanced, experiences rough patches in the road.  These steps backward are often a signal that significant change is right around the corner.   Always take a couple of minutes at the end of a satisfying practice to appreciate how you feel, and remember this feeling during the hard times. If you miss a day or two, shrug your shoulders and accept it, don't beat yourself over the head."  
                                
                                                                         From the book "Yoga for 50+" by Richard Rosen

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us;  it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

                                                                           Marianne Williamson