KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

by Meagan McCrary

Very few students begin practicing yoga with overt spiritual ambitions; they simply want to feel and move better in their body. However, it doesn't matter whether or not your initial intentions are purely physical. What's important is that you're in your body, consciously moving and breathing, establishing a stronger mind-body connection, and cultivating a little self-awareness. Intentionally or not, you begin a process of personal growth and transformation just by practicing yoga. You might even say that yoga is for the people who are open to change, and the ones who want to stay exactly the same don't stay with yoga for very long. Your yoga practice will shift you in some way on some level, if not on all levels. In addition to helping the body gain strength and flexibility, a steady practice helps build concentration, create emotional balance, and cultivate positive qualities such as compassion, patience, joy, and confidence.

During class you will experience profound moments of stillness, even if only for a few seconds at a time. The full yogic breathing helps quiet the analytical mind, which never seems to stop weighing options and considering consequences, finally allowing the intuitive mind to have a voice. The internal awareness and mental clarity cultivated in yoga help you realize certain things about yourself and your life. Over time, you become skilled at recognizing that which no longer serves you — the relationships, default tendencies, reactions and other thought patterns, and roles that don't contribute to your overall happiness.

In fact, your yoga practice will typically have an interesting way of creeping into your life off the mat as you become more aware of how you feel and increasingly conscious of the choices you make. Yoga doesn't require you to change your lifestyle overnight or conform to any outside standards, but you naturally begin to gravitate toward feeling better, making better decisions and choices in your eating and lifestyle habits (and no, that doesn't mean you have to become a vegetarian to practice yoga).

You may also notice that your yoga practice is a microcosm for your life. The way you are on your mat — how you respond to challenges, handle disappointment, and relate to yourself, how present you are, how willing you are to try new things — is the way you'll be off your mat as well. In yoga, you get to practice being the way you want to be in a safe, contained environment. (After all, yoga practice is just that: practice.)

Therefore, when you are practicing, attitude is everything, as it is in life in general. To begin with, your overriding intention for practicing must be rooted in something more meaningful than external appearances or physical achievements, or your asana practice runs the risk of becoming just another outlet for ego gratification, and you've missed the bigger, overriding message of yoga. That means your intention for practicing doesn't necessarily have to be god-consciousness or Self-realization (although that's a good intention), but rather can and perhaps should be something personal, whether that is to feel better overall, learn more about yourself or foster self-acceptance, become a better mother or spouse, be more present or experience more joy, cultivate more peace, clarity, or ease in your life, whatever — something more meaningful than having a tight bum or being able to do the splits. Wanting to achieve an advanced posture isn't wrong; in fact, the desire can increase your dedication and drive. However, it shouldn't be your only reason for practicing. What if you never nail the pose? Then what? Without a higher intention, it's easy to become defeated.

Yoga is in the business of self-acceptance and exploration, which by definition can have no expectations. Sometimes, you'll step onto the mat only to discover your body isn't on board to practice at the level you were hoping it was. And that's okay. In fact, it's better than okay; you get to practice listening to your body and doing what's best for you in the moment. Yoga gives you permission to give yourself a break.

Of course, in a class setting, it's easy to become caught up in comparing (joy's most brutal thief). As easy as it is to compare yourself to others and feel less than, it's just as easy to compare yourself and feel more than, or somehow superior, when you can out-perform the other students in class. As you advance in your asana practice, it's crucial to remain humble with an open attitude and a beginner's mind. With a beginner's mind, you enter each yoga posture with the excitement and eagerness of a first-time practitioner, gently exploring new ways of aligning or moving your body in and out of the postures.

Meagan McCrary is a Los Angeles based yoga teacher and the author of Pick Your Yoga Practice. She teaches for Equinox Sports Clubs, works one-on-one with some of the entertainment industry's leading professionals, and holds workshops and retreats nationally and internationally. Visit her online at meaganmccrary.com. Based on the book Pick Your Yoga Practice © 2013 by Meagan McCrary. Printed here with permission of New World Library.

Are there different interpretations for different tarot decks? In other words, if I look at the same card in a Sacred Rose and a Ryder Waite deck, are there different meanings for that same card?

J.

Susyn:

The Tarot is an extremely versatile divination tool. A single card in and of itself can be interpreted in many different ways. Because the illustrations and themes of each Tarot deck vary, readers can extract many different messages from them.

Keep in mind that reading the Tarot is subject to not only the deck one uses but an individual's unique psychic abilities as well. Though each card has a basic meaning, additional interpretations will begin to develop as students advance their skills and knowledge.

The Sacred Rose and Ryder-Waite decks are both traditional forms of the Tarot consisting of 78 images that outline the journey to self-actualization and spiritual attainment. There are other decks that vary in images and interpretations, but for the two decks you mentioned, the symbolic illustrations on each card convey the same basic message.

Keep in mind that the meaning of a card will change based on the question being asked as well as the other cards shown around it. For example, if you are asking about a love relationship and the Lovers, the Two of Rods, the Three of Rods and the Hierophant appear, they could be interpreted as a promising union (The Lovers), with a possible proposal (Two of Rods), and advise that the querant wait for things to develop (Three of Rods) in a traditional manner (The Hierophant).

However, in a health reading, these same cards would take on a different meaning. The Lovers would then indicate overall balance in the body, while the Two of Rods would suggest that the querant is seeking an answer to a specific problem. The combination of the Three of Rods and the Hierophant suggest that they need to seek advice from an expert such as a medical doctor or holistic practitioner.

So as you can see, not only do illustrations vary from deck to deck, but the same cards in the same deck can take on different meanings depending on the question asked. This makes Tarot one of the most powerful divination tools available. Most of the many Tarot decks on the market offer similar versions of traditional images. Because of this, you can choose a deck you are intuitively drawn to based on its illustrations and themes and still receive a consistent, reliable reading.

If you would like to learn more about Tarot and how to extract more in-depth answers and direction from the cards, I encourage you to sign up for my beginnerís or advanced Tarot classes, which are available in the products section of my profile at Kajama.

*****

Mata:

Tarot cards weren't originally designed for divination but for playing card games; in fact, a typical deck of playing cards can be used for divination just like tarot cards can. The meaning of the cards is therefore not inherent to them but attributed to them by the person doing the reading.

Of course, over the centuries, the cards have taken on certain general meanings as the practice of divination was handed down to generations of students and explained in various books. Further, the cards depict some powerful symbols with universal meanings. For example, one has only to look at The Tower card to guess that it suggests ill fortune.

Since you're using the cards to create a language of symbols through which to communicate with your own higher self, subconscious mind, and/or metaphysical guides, the important thing is that this language work for you.

This is true of all symbolic psychic work. For example, to you seeing a cross may represent a cross-roads, while to someone else, it may signify religion and to yet another person, suffering. As the source of your psychic information will know that a cross represents a crossroads to you, when you are receiving psychic impressions clairvoyantly, you will be shown a cross when crossroads is being communicated, and something else to represent suffering and religion.

The same is true when working with tarot. When certain information is indicated, whatever card you associate with that information will come up for you.

There are two main approaches to reading tarot. One is to study the classical interpretations. This can take many years since each card has a slightly different nuance depending on the subject at hand, and can mean different things when in different positions in a spread. The second approach is intuitive: one ponders the pictures on the cards and allows the images depicted to suggest answers.

Long-time students of tarot quickly develop their own language, which is usually a combination of learned interpretations and those they have attributed to the cards.

Some decks vary slightly on the classic Ryder-Waite while others differ dramatically in terms of themes and images. The more different a deck is from the one you first learned on, the harder it will be to switch decks unless you are employing an entirely spontaneous, intuitive approach. For this reason, it's wise to spend a good amount of time developing a relationship with a new deck before using it to read for others.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.