My teacher once said, “When you understand something all the way down to its root, you understand everything else.” This is one of those time-lapsed lessons, like a photo of the night sky, taken over several hours that shows you in one shot what actually takes a long time to occur.
Enlightenment of Everything
The Gayatri Mantra is a mantra which essentially states that if I truly understood that everything originates from the same source, I would see that everything is integrally connected and therefore I have everything I need. What I’ve been practicing lately is understanding how through my different disciplines of focus and study in life, yoga/mediation, music, and human relationships, I can see the SAME truths manifest whether I’m practicing sun salutations, playing Coltrane on my sax, or learning to truly listen to my wife and life-partner. Like the Gayatri mantra states, understanding something to its core, means understanding that everything comes from that core.
The ancient yoga sutras give us insight on how to achieve Samadhi, the fullest experience of yoga when one realizes the connectedness of all things and becomes all things. There are several paths to this end—the sutras list 8. Through practicing, yoga, and meditation, I’ve come to understand that it’s foolish to think that one can only get the knowledge and wisdom of Samadhi by practicing yoga. Once I get a taste for what it is, I can feel Samadhi in yoga, hear it in Coltrane, I can feel in when my wife and I are truly connected. Sometimes it takes practicing a discipline and arriving at the finish line, or even at mile markers along the way, to realize that there are several paths that could have brought you there.
Many Ways to Roll
So knowing that there are several ways to roll, and I get to choose the one that work best for me, I still choose yoga/meditation, music, and love as my pathways to my personal wisdom and fulfillment. And when someone tells me of their passion for their path, be it Pilates, badminton, painting, or death metal (that’s right), I am offered an opportunity to practice listening and compassion to understand how that pathway could bring that soul to the same place. Critics might say that death metal couldn’t possibly bring someone to the same place that yoga or meditation could. To critics, I would proffer: start listening to death metal.
If yoga and meditation speak to you, I’d be honored to offer you my free Tranquility Tool Kit, which gives you many resources to find your own path. I’m thrilled to have a job where I get to practice and teach one of the very things that brings me toward my highest truth and I celebrate the opportunity to meet like-minded people along the way. And if what takes you there is death metal, my earphones are ready.
Photo by Alex Adams
Scott Moore is a senior teacher of yoga and mindfulness in the US (New York, Salt Lake City, LA) and abroad and the author of Practical Yoga Nidra: The 10-Step Method to Reduce Stress, Improve Sleep, and Restore Your Spirit. When he's not teaching or conducting retreats, or traveling to teach, he also writes for Conscious Life News, Elephant Journal, Mantra Magazine, Medium, and his own blog at scottmooreyoga.com. Scott also loves to run, play the saxophone, and travel with his wife and son. Check out his yoga retreats and trainings in places like Tuscany, France, and Hong Kong , his online Yoga Nidra Course and his Yoga Teacher Mentor Program. Scott just moved back to Salt Lake City after living in Southern France with his family.
