KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

by Meagan McCrary

No longer associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, when many Americans first turned to yoga in search of a drugless high, yoga has become a nationwide cultural phenomenon and a billion-dollar industry. If you don't practice yoga, chances are you know someone who does. It seems that everyone, from athletes and celebrities to high-powered executives and politicians to stay-at-home moms and college students, is stepping onto the mat.

Modern yoga has evolved to become incredibly inclusive. Whether you're religious, spiritual, or neither, fitness-oriented or less concerned with the physical, mainstream or more eccentric, there's a yoga practice for you. Prior to the turn of the new century, yoga was never so widely available as it is today. Yoga is now offered in schools, prisons, churches, synagogues, city halls, senior centers, rehab facilities, gyms, hotels, and spas. Yoga studios have even become staples in strip malls across the country, and in large cosmopolitan cities like New York and Los Angeles, an overflow of yoga schools and centers offer sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of urban living. Starting as early as 5:30 a.m. and ending as late as midnight, yoga classes are held all day long, and they're packed. And while studios aren't as prevalent on the streets of small-town America, yoga is infiltrating rural areas via dedicated instructors who hold classes in small numbers wherever they can find the space. In short, people everywhere are practicing yoga.

Americans turn to yoga for various reasons, but in some way or another, they are looking to reap the practice's many benefits. They've heard yoga is good for you. They've read that yoga is great for managing stress and dealing with depression and will help them sleep better. Their doctor has told them that practicing yoga can help increase circulation, build bone mass, and lower blood pressure. They were sent by their physical therapist to cultivate postural awareness, increase range of motion, and alleviate back pain. They believed Christy Turlington when she credited yoga for her perfect bum.

Everyone, from neighbors to mothers-in-law, swears by yoga, so more and more people are taking to the mat to discover for themselves what the hype is all about. They keep coming back because the mind-body discipline works: Yoga makes you feel better. So what is it?

What is yoga? is a loaded question and one that could take a lifetime to answer: Ask twenty yogis, and you'll get twenty different answers. There are as many interpretations of yoga as there are Hindu gods (around 330 million). Most Americans, whether they've tried it or not, have an idea of what yoga is, even if their understanding is as rudimentary as Yoga's that thing you do on a yoga mat when you're in yoga class that somehow involves stretching and breathing. And they are right.

Yoga is a system of exercise, and yet it's so much more. Considered a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, yoga is an ancient belief system, a science of exploration, a process of self-discovery, a method of personal development and spiritual evolution, and an art of transformation. It is a complete approach to total well-being, and, for many, yoga is a way of life. Yoga is an all-encompassing approach to physical health, mental clarity, emotional balance, and spiritual attainment — whatever that means or looks like to you.

A fundamental tenet of the broader yogic tradition is that there is one universal consciousness. Call it supreme consciousness, the Divine, Brahman, God, Shiva, Buddha-nature, Allah, whatever, there is a oneness that encompasses everything, including you. However, we become so caught up in our individual experiences of embodied consciousness (that is, our lives) that we tend to see ourselves as separate entities operating independently from one another. Yoga, therefore, is designed to shift individual perceptions of ourselves and the world in which we live, helping us to recognize not only our inherent oneness with everyone and everything but also our union with the Divine. How that union is understood and arrived at varies from one yogic school of thought to the next, but for all intents and purposes, yoga is the method by which we realize our innate nature and highest Self inseparable from supreme consciousness and completely supported by the universe.

At the heart of the tradition lies the understanding that all human beings desire to belong, to be connected to something greater than themselves, to be loved. On a fundamental level all people want to be at peace and free of disease. It's safe to say that in every human heart lies an intense yearning to be happy. Yoga teaches us that these fundamental human desires are expressions of our innermost nature, that at our most basic level we are free, connected to everything and everyone, and nothing but love. We don't experience ourselves as such, because we've grown accustomed to identifying solely with our mind, which is to say our ego. Through a process of cloaking, veiling our true selves, we begin to associate with limiting self-beliefs such as I'm alone, I'm not good enough, I don't deserve love.

We practice yoga to shine the light on that which already resides deep in our inner consciousness, hence — en-lighten-ment. Practicing yoga helps clear the lenses, so to speak, taking you on an inward journey back to your deepest Self and to the realization that you have everything you need within to experience the unbounded joy and freedom that is your true nature.

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.

The other night I had a vivid dream. My four-year-old daughter was running around on the deck of a cruise ship and fell overboard. Although my six-year-old son was with me, I jumped overboard to save her. What was a calm sea suddenly became very turbulent and my daughter was always just out of my reach. The water swirled around us like a whirlpool, and I could then see large fish in the water circling us. I was so frightened they were sharks! I was pulled under several times but finally managed to grab my daughter and more or less surrendered to fate when we were pulled/pushed to safety by a large angel who appeared in the shape of a dolphin. We suddenly surfaced on a pristine white sandy beach. I immediately knew we were in Heaven or an alternate Universe. There was a McDonald's on the beach with cupcakes all over the roof! The dolphin changed its appearance and stood before me as an angel with dark skin and hair. (This is not what I imagined an angel would look like for some reason.) I felt this overwhelming love for him and wanted him to stay with us but he smiled and said he had to go but would always be around to protect us. My daughter and I explored the beach and I was content to stay but wondered how my son would fare without us. The rest of the dream was like something out of Narnia, but I've described the parts that really mean something to me. What could this all mean? Was that my guardian angel? Thank you.

Shazmin

Though this dream involved your daughter, it was more about your own fears than her well-being. There are multiple aspects to this dream; let's explore them one at a time.

Being surrounded by water indicates that this dream was soul-based, for water represents not only the subconscious but also the spiritual. It could also represent the fact that, as we go through life, there are many dangers we need to be aware of.

The threatening sharks in the water represent the dangers we may encounter in life. The dolphin who saved you and later turned into your guardian angel underscores the fact that even when you find yourself in dangerous situations, you are always protected.

Ending up in heaven or an alternate Universe suggests that you are in the midst of a spiritual transition. (It is interesting to note that what you saw may have been your daughter's idea of heaven: a McDonaldís covered with cupcakes!)

The dolphin turned angel in your dream represents your intellectual idea of what your guardian angel might look like even though he did not fit the description of a typical angel. We are the ones who determine what the spirit guides and guardian angels we can't physically see look like to us.

Itís wonderful to know they can shape-shift into any form that may appeal to us or any creature that may offer us the best protection. As a dolphin, he was able to get you both safely to shore. As an angel, he revealed himself in a form that was identifiable to you.

The general message of the dream is that you are always protected and that, when things seem worst, Spirit will transform them into something positive. Because this dream centered on saving your daughter, it may have been a way to process the normal fears most parents carry about their children. It is also possible that you have been overly worried about your daughter for some reason, for our dreams are often designed to process our greatest fears so that we can work through and resolve them.

Though you may not always be able to protect your children, this dream affirms that all of you have special guardian angels who are always looking after you.

*****

Mata:

There are all sorts of possible interpretations for this wonderful dream. It could be a symbolic representation of a past life experience. Many people don't even know that it is possible for us to dream of past life experiences in a non-literal manner.

For example, if you and your daughter died in a past life when you tried to save her from drowning, it would explain the basic plot of the dream, your intense feelings, and also your arrival in a heavenly realm after being met by the angel. Having dreams like this is one way our inner beings try to help us heal and release past life trauma.

Of course, it's also possible that this dream was you processing some recent concerns about your daughter, or prophetic of problems looming on the horizon. Water often represents our emotional lives, so it may be that you are in some deep emotional water, surrounded by perceived threats to your or your daughter's peace and happiness.

For example, if your daughter recently started preschool and has been having a hard time getting socially acclimated, you may fear that she is in over her head. Here the sharks may be bullies or other kids who are attacking her or tearing her emotionally apart. When my daughter was in the throes of adolescence, I often had water-based dreams that involved threatening sea creatures. My concern was usually how to get her safely from one side of the water to the other without her drowning or being attacked by sharks or other threats.

While the guardian angel could be symbolic of the fact that you are always spiritually watched over, protected and supported, there are a couple of elements that indicate to me that this was an actual meeting with one of your guides. The main evidence for this is your overwhelming feelings of love for this being. The fact that he didn't at all look like your own concept of a guardian angel also suggests that this was a real individual you were blessed to meet in this way.

In any case, the message of this dream is comforting and positive: no matter what happens, there are spiritual forces ever ready to help you and your loved ones remain safe on all levels.

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.