Yoga is a Hug

This morning in meditation, I was doing deep restorative yoga.

I breathed in compassion to myself.  Kindness toward the light, lovable parts of me as well as the darker, self-loathing parts of me.  As I envisioned a warm yellow sunlight enveloping my middle, I heard the words, “Yoga… is a hug.”

Hug me.

I went into child’s pose and felt a serenity wash over me.  There, before my Jizo shrine, on my yoga mat, I felt years of yoga speaking to me in a unified voice: “When you practice, you are giving yourself an act of love.”

When we practice, whatever form of yoga, of meditation, we are acting to esteem and love ourselves.  Then, we can authentically turn to the world and give love from a place within us that is whole, real and accepting of every imperfection and fear that may arise.