LATEST YOGA

Welcome to our Yogi Poet Series – a place where poetry and yoga unite to bring you a sensory experience of movement, meditation, and mindfulness. Meet Nate Pritts – an English Professor, poet, and yogi.

Nate’s words have been published in eight books of poetry, and in his most recent collaboration, has teamed up with YogiApproved to bring us the Yogi Poet Series.
 

Poetry is an art of attention, focused by love. And the times we live in complicate our ability to focus this energy.

 
Nate’s most recent book of poetry, Decoherence, was recently released and is filled with inspiring poems that intersect our environment, emotions, and creativity – a perfect parallel to our yoga practice.
 
Enjoy this poem with accompanying yoga pose and guided meditation.
 

How to Approach the Poem

Pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea and find a quiet place. Get comfortable and take your time reading the poem below, allowing the words to fill your heart and wash over you:
 

DIFFERENT DEER

 
When I drive
I keep my eyes unfocused
     alert to the inessential detail
that is everywhere around me
 
the crystal snowmelt receding
 
the faces of the other drivers
     beautiful in the glow
     of their dashboard gauges
 
the fire that stains
          the western horizon
     as evening takes hold of us all
 
a deer’s crumpled body
like an anchor on the roadside.
 
I can’t forget it.
It means nothing to me
 
the terrible weight of it
the dim field-colored hair
 
     bristly     crushed
into the salt-blasted asphalt
     a hardbright     white.
       Earlier
 
I stood on the front porch
     & watched     attentively
three deer grazing together
     bounding smoothly
 
their bodies so light
     almost empty.
 
 
We live in a world that is gloriously teeming with impressions and distractions – natural beauty and digital, things that only happen once and things we can download and store to watch over and over again.
 
Poetry is an art of attention, focused by love. And the times we live in complicate our ability to focus this energy. It’s important to notice, to remember, to think of ourselves as something bigger than the moments we live in.
 

How to Approach the Yoga Pose and Guided Meditation

When you’re ready, read the caption beneath the yoga pose. Get into the pose, and then stay there as you begin to breathe deeply. Maybe you close your eyes, or maybe you set your drishti on something beautiful nearby.
 

 

Paired With: Lotus Pose Meditation

 
“No mud no lotus.” A simple yet dense metaphor for how life’s pain and hardships can cultivate purest of diamonds, lotus flowers, and evolutions.
 
Lotus Pose – Padmasana in Sanskrit – is the seat of meditation and physically cultivates mental clarity and stillness. Allow this posture to be your statement of peace, gratitude, and the silence that leads to present moment awareness.
 
Stop. Breathe! Take a deep breath. Carve out a moment of stillness for yourself. This stillness is the present moment. Through this conscious breathing, become acutely aware of the here and now.
 
Too often, we get absorbed in the to-do list, the incessant busy-ness around us, and we lose sight of the present. Life can feel like it’s racing by, and sometimes we become numb to the sensations and experiences of being alive.
 
As you hold the yoga pose, reflect on this message. What are the things that distract you from the present moment? What are the things that anchor you strongly to the here and now?
 
How can you use your yoga practice to access a deeper sense of presence? How can you create present moment awareness in your everyday life?
 

Make Every Day Poetry In Motion

Today, we invite you to take a few moments to enjoy this beautiful poem, center yourself in the accompanying yoga pose, and breathe presence and awareness into your day.
 
Thanks for practicing with us! Stay tuned for more poems and yoga practice from our Yogi Poet Series!
 
Namaste, yogis!
 

The post Poetry and Yoga: Find Present Moment Awareness With This Moving Meditation appeared first on YogiApproved™.

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