The Yoga of Inner Peace: Riding the Waves of Change

One of yoga’s great gifts is the feeling of inner peace, where the body, mind, and heart are harmoniously aligned and flowing. This inner peace is the result of a dedicated practice on the yoga mat over a long period of time. But what about inner peace off the mat? Do you have a strategy for maintaining calm in the chaos? How do you bring that sense of inner peace into your daily life and into the world?

To be sure, inner peace is difficult to find in a chaotic world, especially now. With devastating natural disasters, wars, deportations, and politics in the U.S. and other countries, it’s no wonder stress is among the leading causes of chronic illness.

How then can we thrive with an open heart in a precarious world? Is it even possible?

Change as a Constant in Life

Recently, I’ve been inspired about the idea that life is change and change is life. Like the waves of the ocean that keep coming and never stop, the waves of change, both large and small, continually bombard us. With every wave, we have an opportunity to choose. We can get off the wave and quit, or we can surf the wave and engage with it.

In my experience, all suffering comes from one of two things—either not wanting something to change (resisting change), or from wishing that something would change but it doesn’t.

Over my 46 years of yoga practice, I’ve come to the conclusion that how we respond to change is key to securing our sense of inner peace off the mat. Do you resist change, or do you welcome it? Honestly, I think I do a little of both. But when I allow change to flow without resisting it, when I choose to surf the waves of change, I discover that grace (the spirit, the light, whatever you want to call the bigger energy of the universe), always carries me to the shore of inner peace.

Like everyone, I’ve had my share of opportunities to experience waves of change. I was studying jazz piano performance at the University of Miami when I first came to Kripalu in 1982. I visited a friend at Kripalu for a few days and liked it so much, I decided to take a 10-day program there. Only, I stayed for 13 years!

Saying Yes to Opportunity

My decision to stay on at Kripalu scared my parents who thought I had joined a cult and angered my professors who were expecting me to fulfill the masters fellowship I was granted. Yet, every cell of my being said yes to yoga and yes to Kripalu—the community, the love, the practices, the teachings, the healing, serving, and bringing more light, compassion, and goodness into the world. At the time, I had no idea that I would dedicate a lifetime to being a yoga teacher. But this is what happens when you choose to follow your heart and ride the waves of change. When I became more conscious of the power of this change I had made, I realized that I was living my dream.

Ride the Wave

Professional surfers, I’m told, search the world for the “monster wave,” the one that offers the thrill of a lifetime. Well, it feels like I’m riding a monster wave right now. Recently, my partner, Hallie, and I decided to combine our households and move in together. Anyone who’s ever moved knows all about that change! We’ve been preparing for this change for weeks. To make room in our shared space, we have been sorting through our respective “stuff” and donating furniture, beds, exercise equipment, duplicate kitchen items, and much much more.

I have to say that this change fills me with joy and although it’s a bit scary, I’m allowing the wave to carry me. Our relationship has become stronger, more durable, and expansive as a result of engaging with this change.

Change is the language of reality. When you learn to fully “speak” that language, you can soften your resistance to change, stop swimming upstream, and let go. You can then allow the waves of change to carry you to more distant and expansive shores. Change brings us the opportunity to transform ourselves, to release what’s no longer needed, and move toward living the life of our dreams.