Waking today and lighting my pilot light. The inner fire of passion becomes the illuminated light of the soul shining. I have been asked why there is so much anger in the world now. We are wired for self-preservation, our mind is always roaming, looking out for our survival.

Fear of NOT having is the motivator for life which turns on the fire for survival, doing, getting, striving, and it never turns off. Anger keeps people alive, but it never allows for resting and cultivating a quality of peace or ease.

Living in a wildfire of anger blinds the mind from seeing clearly. Exhaustion follows, and fatigue will also blur the mind in an emotional haze. We call it “depression,” as the desire for life fades. This dullness of existence paralyzes the soul. To constantly feed the mind lack is fear. To be full of life, to be enough, and actually experience life as a true feeling is to cultivate the awareness of Prana Shakti.

If we constantly feed the mind the fear of not having enough, then we only keep spinning in a rage of competition, harming each other. We have learned to get more, hoard more, and defend the ownership of superiority over those that have less. We can feed the anger of survival and continue to shame ourselves and others.

For thousands of years, mankind has defended its existence by fighting the inner demon of fear. It is not until we embrace it and honor our fear, that we find the desire to move in another direction. We need to be willing to move the mind inward and take that ember of fire and breathe it into our life force and slow down the panic in our systems.

The flow of breath can shift our nervous systems and create a profound shift in healing. The actual pranic flow of our life awakens the soul. Light the flame of passion and desire for being present to love. This is our pranic shakti, our life force.

Yes, it all sounds so ridiculous to the small mind that doubts. It takes profound courage not to react to what is being witnessed all around with the same biting and spitting of human anger. But the integrity of something greater is to move into another direction and cultivate a response that is healing.

What is healing humanity at this moment? We must cultivate the ability to pause and acknowledge our fear and yet not fall into its trap of anger. Respond with compassion and hold all beings with honor and respect. Experience a shift in the chemistry of the mind and feel the body relax. I am more passionate than ever about teaching and sharing the tools of yoga for our health.

The harming that is happening is learned, and its patterns of self-loathing are being taught through our thoughts, words, and action. Self-loathing is fear which moves into anger. Anger manifests in the moods of frustration, agitation, and feeling of being overwhelmed. To have a mind of doubt, worry, and confusion is the smoke from the fire gone wild.

Healing is to shift the mind into a focused state of balance. Observe the constant movement and let go of fixing the thought.

Yoga is not to fix anything. It is simply the ability to learn tools that can balance the mind/body and inspire a positive shift in attitude in all moods. This takes practice, a teacher, and the desire to thrive and enjoy life for the beauty and the wonder that is always being presented. Light the flame of love and have the enthusiasm and the passion to live it. This is humanity at its best. Be alive and celebrate health.

We are a healing yoga center; this has been my passion as a mental health provider for over 30 years. When I saw that individuals were not connected to the somatic experience of their breath, I decided to become a yoga therapist and leave my role as a marriage and family therapist in CA. I knew the work of somatic healing was yoga. My relationships with students must be based on deep trust, which is meeting each person where they are.

Yoga is a deep philosophy of profound, subtle experiences. In our world of biased opinion, yoga became more of a body attachment to how one looked. I believe, it is how we feel.

We are starting a new teacher training this September, and I hope to inspire health practitioners to learn the actual methodology in which these deeper tools are used to maintain their own well-being and then to inspire others suffering from the illnesses that our society is seeing today. Consider joining us on Saturday, July 22 for an information session about this transformational program.

Our community is based on healing and awakening the soul’s desire of being the light in the world. This is our passion at YAF. Let us light our pilot light today and be willing to shine.

With Love,

Laura Jane