By Gurudevi Nirmalananda 

That’s what you really want, a breakthrough: a shift in perception, an insight or realization that makes you “get it”.  Suddenly you’re free. Whatever was weighing you down simply has no power over you anymore.  And you can’t go back to the way you were either.  Once you know, you can’t not-know.

We love breakthroughs, even the images that evoke the feeling.  Seeing the sun shining through a hole in the clouds brings me to a halt every time.  I look around to see if other people are seeing it, too.  I love a photo of a bird flying into a vast blue sky or a high-jumper sailing over the bar.  As a kid in elementary school, I used to run and leap across the giant rain puddles on the playground.  It felt almost like I could fly.

It’s true, we want to fly, to shatter the shackles that keep us bound.  It’s the norm to live in your agendas, entangled in emotions and chasing wisps of thought.  But the desire for freedom is there, inside.  So many popular musicians sing, “I want to be free!”  Yes!  Freedom!  Yoga is all about freedom.

Many people begin yoga by seeking freedom from pain or stress.  Both dissolve in your first Svaroopa^® yoga class.  Then you want more:  freedom from the limiting patterns in your body-mind, along with the unleashing of your power to…