June 21st is Summer Solistice- What does this mean? This particular day has the longest period of daylight. It is also International Yoga Day. International Yoga Day has been around since 2015. The United Nations wanted a day, worldwide, to acknowledge the mental, physical, and spiritual practice of yoga. International Yoga Day’s theme this year is “Be with Yoga, Be at home”.

Be with Yoga, Be at home-

What does this theme mean to you? Really just take a few minutes and close your eyes and breath- focus on the theme. What resonates with you? What is yoga? What is home? What is being?

For me, I can’t help but write about the space within, the internal home. We spent so much time as a society with external “pretty”. But really folks how pretty is that “internal” space you bring everywhere with you. Are you so “busy” you have no time to explore this space? Or is this a means of escape to not live or hear from that space?

Think of deep cleaning your internal space, during this Summer Solistice period,  just like you would clean the external space of your home and surroundings. What needs to be dusted and vacuumed? Think of those hard-to-reach corners of your mind. What needs to be descaled? What just needs to be simply thrown in the garbage or let go of? What needs to be polished and brought to the surface? What does deep cleaning of your internal home space look like? What do you need more? What do you need less of? Mull this over and really meditate on this.

It can be overwhelming when you start to declutter that internal space, but lucky for us guidelines have been in place for a long time. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras outlining the eight limbs of yoga is a great place to start with the deep cleaning of the internal space.

The eight limbs of yoga offer so much wisdom and guidelines for living a meaningful and purposeful life, especially the Yamas. These are just gems of wisdom to contemplate and recognize in your life. So take a moment along with a deep breath and let’s examine the Yamas and how our internal home space looks- 

These are the five Yamas in Patanjali’s sutras-

Ahimsa (non-harming/ non-violence)

Satya (truthfulness)

Asteya (non- stealing)

Brahmacharya (non- excess)

Aparigrapha (non-attachment)

Let’s spend some time breaking down the Yamas and how they may come up in your life in your home space. Think of this as a home improvement project for yourself. You are so worth the time and effort and I encourage you to start noticing the Yamas on this beautiful day of light. Use the extra light to shine into those dark places in your home.

Ahimsa (non-harming/ non-violence)

This Yama came into my life when I started practicing with a teacher a few years ago. When she would request an asana, the teacher would masterfully guide her thoughts to ahimsa. How does the pose feel? Are you pushing yourself into the pose? Remember ahimsa. How many times have you been in a pose and breathing heavily and straining and pushing and forcing? Ah, ahimsa. Try to remember when in asana, the goal is effortless, you are floating and in a meditative mind. If not feeling this, well remember ahimsa and back off. The goal is not the posture. The goal is to join the body and mind. 

Ahimsa starts first with your thoughts. Are your thoughts harmful and violent to you? Just start noticing without judgment and feel the sensation in your body where that thought lands (stomach, heart, shoulder, etc.) and place your hand on that spot and give yourself love and understanding without a story. Maybe just repeat, “I love you” over and over. Remember what you practice becomes stronger. Let’s bring light to the self-harm we bring to our bodies and mind, our internal home space.

Satya (truthfulness/honest communication)

Do you communicate honestly with yourself? Are you hyper-critical of yourself? How do you know? Well get naked and stand in front of a mirror and listen to your internal space chatter. Can you even look at yourself in the mirror? Start with your eyes, and stare into those beautiful eyes and tell yourself, “I love you” and move from there. 

Try to shed light throughout your day and how you communicate with yourself. Is this communication honest? Would you talk to a friend, the same way you talk to yourself? Just start to notice how truthful and honest you are to yourself. The honest truth is happiness is your birthright and you are a beautiful, imperfect, perfect unique soul and you are here for a reason or purpose. It may not seem like that on a normal day, but you impact and influence everyone you meet. So be a human forklift and find the light within you to share with others to encourage them to find the light within them.

Asteya (non-stealing)

This Yama you may think, no problem, I don’t steal. Oh, beautiful soul think of ways in your internal home space that you steal away your hopes, dreams, aspirations. What limiting thoughts steal/ take away the energy for you to pursue those hopes and dreams? Think of a time you stole from yourself to give to others. Do you put others first? Always remember what a flight attendant tells you when on the plane- “First, put on your oxygen mask and then help others.”. Probably time to start observing how you steal from yourself to give to others.

Another way asteya can be identified in your internal home space is the present moment. Are your thoughts of the past and future stealing away the present moment(s) of your life? All of the magic is in the present moment. To get back to the present moment engage in mindful breathing and focusing on the in and out-breath and try to engage all of your senses in that present moment. See how long you can stay in the present moment without allowing the future or past to steal it away from you.

Brahmacharya (non-excess)

Are you hoarding anything internally that needs to be let go of? Are you stuck in a past mistake and have made it a life sentence prison sentence? Or are you hoarding thoughts of the future, where everything will be better, if only this one thing happened (job, money, finding soul mate, etc.)?  

When observing brahmacharya in asana- think of it this way, the asana should be replenishing your energy not draining your energy. So the next time you are in a yoga practice be mindful of the asana. Is it draining or replenishing you? If it is draining... lighten up on the pose and relax into the asana. There really is a difference between gymnastics and yoga and this is it.

Aparigraha (non-attachments)

Think of your addictions, yes we ALL have them. Just go to a public area and watch people, you can figure out their addiction (and probably yours) pretty quickly. That little electronic gadget you can’t live without, consistently checking it out (Facebook, Instagram, weather, etc.). I like to think of addictions, as attachments. How do you know if you are attached? Just lose or break something and see if you can let it go.

What thoughts/ patterns are you attached to, that you should probably let go of? Try to identify those negative thoughts that you are attached to.  To help recognize and understand those thoughts, the answer my friend is bringing yourself back to the present moment when you notice a thought that isn’t for your highest good. Try to feel the sensation that is created in your body when that thought arises or if you can’t identify a  place in your body, place your hand on your heart and tell yourself, “I love you” and focus on that beautiful mantra along with your amazing breath. YOU ARE ENOUGH and YOU ARE WORTHY OF HAPPINESS!!!!!

So maybe this year during Summer Solstice, take some time for yourself and observe how fabulous and wonderful you are, and try to identify the Yamas in your internal home space with kindness and compassion.  You can evolve through light or darkness. I like to think of light as goodness. Try to see good in everything.

 Much love and light to all- Namaste-