The Architecture of Peace

Yoga, what a powerful thing indeed.

I visited Michael O'Neil's On Yoga: The Architecture of Peace at the Taschen gallery in West Hollywood.

Yoga is deep y'all. As I walked up, I felt excited to visit the gallery, almost giddy, like a child. Walking around, seeing all the imagery, I felt something deeply, I started crying! Just me, walking around this gallery on a Wednesday afternoon crying. I'm sensitive.

The images of people committing themselves to something greater than themselves, committed to a spiritual life, a life beyond this flesh. This body of ours, it is also fleeting, though we do use it as a means to practice and discover.  Seeing the portrait of "One Arm", a sadhu, had me mesmerized. He has one arm! And a ring around his penis! (Totally not for sexual pleasure.) He wears a crown of rudraskha beads (he strung together the beads with one hand and a stick), no clothes, instead, covers his body in ashes (a symbol of death and rebirth). I mean, come on, that's real dedication and some of us can't even commit to going to the gym. Some of us think our bodies or their parts define who we are as people. Let's look deeper.

What really got me as I walked around, was the mural of "The Roots of Yoga," as soon as I saw the names B.K.S Iyengar (illustrated hanging upside down), Geeta and Prashant, I lost it. It was right there on the wall that I'm part of something bigger than I could ever imagine. And yes, we know we are part of a very big universe, but when it's right in front of you like that, you feel things. I'm grateful to be part of this architecture of peace, this path that is infinite and I'm figuring my way along it.

There were so many beautiful portraits, some of yogis I've heard of before, and some not. It really opened my perspective of yoga and all the different ways it manifests.

Yoga is not about being physically flexible, touching your toes or contorting your body, it's about the union of your outer self to your inner self, renunciation of the material world. It's about connecting with each other and to something greater than ourselves and we do that through practice. Through earnest, honest practice.

Why do we practice? Why do we go to class? To say we go? To look good?  To bring a sense of closeness and intergration within ourselves and the world we live in? We go to class but are we practicing yoga? We must find out.

I am grateful to Yoga, I am a beginner in my studies and I look forward to whatever I find within.

Blessings to you and your practice.