Be Present :)

“Yesterday is history,

Tomorrow is a mystery,

And today is a gift…

That’s why they call it present” – Kung Fu Panda

 

We heard this quote most of the time. But how many people are really living in present?

 

The best take away for me from this course is understanding of ‘being present’.

 

Past – our memories

Sometimes we will think about our childhood memories or any of our happy and sad memories and as we think about the memories, we are subconsciously comparing our current life/moment with our past and usually this is where the sadness come from. When we faced problem in life, usually we will think and miss our childhood times, and at this moment we will feel sad because we are consciously or subconsciously comparing past and present.

 

Future – our expectations

Sometimes we will think about how we want our future to be? We want to have a big house, have a good career or perfect partner. If we focus too much in the expectation or life projection, we will look forward or have overactive imagination in the life that not exist yet and forgo to enjoy the current life we are living. Moreover, if things do not go according our way, we might living anxiously which affects our health.

 

Of course, the ‘past’ and ‘future’ are part of our life and we cannot forget or ignore them. Our past is our life experience and lessons that shaped us to who we are and our future projection is the motivation for our improvement in life. However, we need to balance them with ‘present’ and yoga has personally help me on this ‘balancing’.

 

In yoga, while we practising pranayama, we learn to focus on our breathing and how our breathing affects each part of our body, our thought without any judgement and actually this is the time that we focus on the present moment. Also, we will learn to practice asana with present-moment awareness by anchoring the mind to the physical movement, breath control and also muscle movement. By living and enjoying the present moment, we will be contented and find happiness.