There's no should in Yoga.

 When deciding to live a BIG life, the fist step is to realize that it isn't going to happen later.  The life you want to have has to start now, and living in the now creates an amazingly beautiful life!

There are always choices,  I can look at the picture above a list a million "shoulds"  My body should come down more, my leg should be straighter, my stomach should  be pulled in more, those outlets shouldn't be there, I could go on and on, but living in the should and focusing on how things should be and shouldn't be hold us back from the possibility of greatness.  In this moment there is a whole lot of perfection.  Let's start with that little lady in the yellow dress, she IS absolutely perfect, that purple mandala IS stunning, me, I'm alright. But this is it, this picture captured one moment in time, it was very different from the moment before and we had no idea what was to come next, but by staying present in this moment, we create a space for greatness to fill the next moment.

This is our practice, when we do yoga we are literally creating space in our bodies, but we are also practicing making space in our minds.  In the time we are practicing our Hatha yoga, it is very easy to live in the world of shoulds, this teacher should  hold the posture longer, this teacher should  crack a window, I shouldn't sit down, but this takes us out of the moment and fills our minds with clutter.  Staying present, creates space in your mind and in that space we can find our truest capabilities.  Have you ever noticed, that right before you do a posture, you tell yourself the story of that posture "I always fall out of Standing Bow, I just don't know how to stay in it"  You have filled your space with some clutter from your past, making it nearly impossible to ever move forward in that posture.  If before we move into a posture, we take a moment, take a breath and move within that breath, there is room to grow!  There is room to move your posture to a new level and the stillness created in your mind leaves room for JOY!

So what is the trick, how do we stay present?  We practice! Yoga is a great place to practice staying present, but you can do this anywhere. Start to take notice to your busy mind.  Notice when your mind starts the should and the woulds and filling with decisions you made yesterday, when this starts to happen remind yourself that the moment you are in is perfect, focus on your breath and give that moment your 100% participation.

When I think about what my BIG life should be, I am constantly reminded that the life I want starts in this very moment and by staying present I create space for newer and bigger things.  That's it for NOW!