Finding rhythm and harmony in yoga

yoga like music present grounded finding self spirituality

B.K.S Iyengar said: “Yoga is like music: the rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life”.

Well, this could not be more true to me.

I have been playing piano and violin since I was a child. Every time I played, I had this amazing feeling of what it was to be alive, I remember leaving music classes thinking, “oh my god this is what life should be”.

Good news people: life actually can be this fulfilling!

My whole almost 30-year-old life, I thought these moments of, “I feel alive!” were just temporary moments of extreme enthusiasm. I thought, “ok maybe I am just too an intense of a person”.

Then I started practicing yoga and immediately loved it. Above all, I realized I already knew that feeling! “Feel the tempo, keep breathing, be one with the instrument and flow.“ This applies very well to both playing piano and doing yoga. When practicing yoga, the tempo is the natural rhythm of your body, and the body is your instrument. Both require a high level of concentration and the ability to flow; to let go of tension. Both yoga and playing music bring you to a magical place where you are not frustrated about the past, nor anxious about the future…Oh yes, right, this place is merely the present moment!

Yoga helped me put words to what I was feeling my entire life: I feel alive when I am connected to myself. Being me, here and now is the key. Yoga was the missing part of the puzzle I needed to understand this. Hence, yoga actually is like music, and playing music already was a form of yoga.

Indeed, whatever makes you connected to yourself is yoga.

To me, it’s music and dancing, but to you it could be cooking, painting or whatever makes you feel connected to who you really are. What a relief to understand it was not an ephemeral feeling. Being connected is something I could work towards on an everyday basis. It makes you more conscious of every action, makes you wonder if your actions make you grow, and makes you closer to who you are or who you want to be.

I have always pictured myself encouraging my future children to try and commit themselves to artistic activities. Now I am even more convinced of that, and I hope you will be too! Give them a chance to be passionate about something. Give them a chance to know that feeling, even if they will understand it in their early 30´s–it is worth it! You will give them the opportunity to one day listen to this feeling, you will give them the opportunity to question themselves about who they really are, and to one day maybe choose between following the path made by society to explore their true potential.

I’m so grateful that I could have experimented with this feeling of “being connected to myself,” whereas many people do not understand the meaning of it. I absolutely do not blame them, and I wish they will one day understand it. Although I was not able to define it until recently, this feeling has always been part of me. I do not imagine my life without it. It is like sparkles that make you feel you are exactly at the right place at the right time.

So listen to yourself, and step into who you really are. This inspirational-mega-mood-booster feeling is inside you. 

Read next >> harmony yoga