We have a way of convincing ourselves that summer will go on ceaselessly, that we’ll be forever young and vibrant and that we’ll inevitably earn enough money one day that everything will be otherwise taken care of for us. 

Symbolically our hands represent the ability to handle the challenges of the outside world.  The coordination between hand, eye and mind is absolutely crucial in order to achieve almost any manner of survival and flourishing.  Weak or unsure hands represent a lack of confidence in being able to use one’s own wits and intelligence in order to survive and it is precisely in that area where we can work with and strengthen our bodies and minds by doing postures which require bearing weight on the hands.

In yoga sadhana (practice) as in many rituals, the power is in both the substance of the activity as well as the repetitive consistency with which it is done.  In the substance of my daily yoga sadhana I aim to cultivate a dynamism in my approach to the sequence of postures, breathing exercises and meditations that constitute it.  This dynamism is an essential component of the freshness and joyfulness that I am able to access throughout my typical 90 minute ritual. 

The reason that spontaneous and non-contrived experiences of sacredness are relevant to modern postural yoga has to do with the way in which yoga studios have become semi-sacred spaces for the communities in which they are situated.  Studios have done this in part by drawing from the innate desire within most people for a spiritual connection, yet also by positioning themselves such that they are not situated within a formally religious context.