*A step back into memory. It is 2008. I am in my last semester as an undergraduate*

In the morning, the sun creeps through the window and spreads itself across my bed. I rise with the sun and move my limbs with breath in ritualistic celebration of living. In these moments, asana, dharana, and pranayama create a space through which I am able to transcend my mind and become something more, something whole. My life has been a difficult venture riddled with memories that weigh down my body. I find often that my body resembles more of a vacant haunted house then a human figure. In the postindustrial western world, we are so fragmented and disconnected from our bodies that no one notices those who develop an unhealthy disconnection from their bodies, like me. This year has been particularly difficult, transitional, and amazing. It seems that life is not static, every gift comes with a cost and every burden comes with a gift.
I have a lot of healing to do in my life. I have started the journey and yoga has been helping me. I am not sure if I will ever heal completely from some of my experiences. Perhaps, the goal is just to be happy now, like Sri Ramana Maharsi explains. This year, I have had to deal with the passing of my adopted mother from cancer, as well as other family issues. I have walked away from a four year relationship, the only relationship with a human being that has ever been healthy in my life. I have discovered that life is not static and that although I thought I had discovered my authentic self in the first few years of college, I had not. We are always in the process of developing. I am graduating this year and for the first time in four years I am letting myself live without weighing down my future with rigidly defined goals and expectations. I am scared, frightened, overwhelmed, vulnerable, intoxicated, excited, liberated, and relieved. In a couple of months, I will be homeless and done with college. For four years I have worked and slaved in the name of learning, in the hopes of finding the liberation that knowledge is said to give you. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna explains that liberation does not just happen in the mind but also in the body. Yoga embodies this philosophy, allowing me to connect with my body and to experience the kind of knowledge that only comes from authentic self. Yoga gives me wisdom in the form of Samadhi. Yoga gives me time to breathe and to acknowledge the wholeness of life. This is where I draw my strength that centers me in the midst of all the transitions in my life. This is where I learn about myself, a type of learning that is often denied us in traditional lifestyles.

I have found that yoga has been a source of strength without boundaries. Entering all aspects of my life, yoga has offered a place of comfort and clarity that I can carry with me wherever I go. I am scared of what the future offers and the risks that I have chosen to take in daring to live an unconventional lifestyle. However, knowing that I will always have a place to come back to and a center within myself encourages me to continue in the face of fear.

Every morning that I offer salutations to the sun and every time I meditate in yogic positions, I affirm all that I have learned from yoga and I learn more. I am a practicing Buddhist and the Yamas and Niyamas in yoga align with my spiritual tendencies. Even more so, they expand my beliefs by validating my desire to practice my beliefs in all areas of my life. I know that all politics are personal, that we must live what we preach and through offering our lives as testament, we offer strength to others who wish to do the same. Yoga allows me to see myself in the midst of all the progressive social change that I work for. It allows me to stay grounded, to realize that part of revolutionary change is taking care of oneself. In our cruel world, taking care of oneself in an egoless way is indeed a revolutionary act.

Yoga is a path, a way of life, a practice that aligns breath, body, and mind. Yoga is a means to create balance and to reach Samadhi. The creation of modern yoga is derived in large from the Yoga Sutras in 200 B.C. Thousands of years later, it is still incredibly important and applicable to our lives because of its ability to adapt to all different lifestyles and evolve with the practitioner. As I step out of one phase of my life and into another, I am comforted knowing that others have been living this way for thousands of years. Right now, my deepest desire is to live a life that is not fragmented and that is truly alive. I cannot beat death, but I can beat death in life by staying awake and connected. Yoga will help me remain connected and awake regardless what the circumstances are.

“Real attainment is to be fully conscious, to be aware of surroundings and the people around, to move among them all, but not to merge consciousness in the environment. One should remain in a inner independent awareness.”
-Sri Ramana Maharsi

I got these shoes
and when it rains
my feet get wet
and
I don't know how
the water gets in
The thing is
all my shoes are like that
and I think
its because my life is made up
of the stuff of the poor
where
every single thing is
there
to remind us that we are
different
than the others
you learn
to thank the rain
and deal with the cold
love the wind for testing
your limits
but then
you are left
with the bitter taste of
acid anger
residue that
lays on your tongue and
ties your stomach
into burning knots
and ruins that subway
sandwich
you thought about all day
allowing yourself
to squander money
on yourself
and your told
that you shouldn't
that you are responsible
for your poverty
as though
its not bad enough
to work so hard to be see through
invisible
but to then
be told that your worth this
essentially worthless
because
its your responsibility
and therefore
your destiny to amount to
whatever your worth
and that, folks, is
nothing.
EXCEPT
that burning anger
is your soul
rebelling
knowing that you are
invaluable
infinite potential
divine creation
absolutely beautiful
and dont
let anyone
person
or thing tell you otherwise
even if you die before
your first bite of cheap
food like
substances
that only clog your insides
You are
divinity,
Chanel the anger
and speak your words
though none of the shiny
people are listening
in their
toy
plastic synthetic worlds
because the ones that matter
are
and they delight in your voice
your silence
your
BEING

The myth of contemporary culture, that we are all separate, becomes naturalized in the very buildings we construct.

Walking through D.C., there are empty bus stations that leach memory and words which have long since lost their power-unspoken. These buildings house “throw away” people. Here, in this rubble exist the hiding places of our collective amnesia. Our collective story that we tell in each house, building, product, fence, book, and cup of coffee we manifest.
MYTH- That we are all separate. Shadow play.
“ ‘Oh, yes’ Todd said, this is all a myth….”