Chisel

Last night I went to Power Yoga at Revelation and Scott was subbing in for Kim.  Scott tends to tell a lot of stories when he teaches, which is fine with me. I am not a yoga purist or a yoga snob...I find different instructors and different styles of teaching refreshing.  Last night's Scott story resonated with me so completely, I thought I would share it with you.

When traveling in India, Scott heard the story of a man who carved life sized elephants from single large pieces of stone.  This man was famous all over the country for these carvings, both for their size and their beauty.  The carver was once asked how he went about his craft, and his answer was as follows:

With the help of many men, friends possibly, they would drag which ever large stone was closest to the center of the village.  The carver would then spends days on end, just staring at the huge mass of rock until he would find what he was looking for...the elephant within the stone.  He would then chisel around the elephant, removing all the excess stone...in essence, releasing the elephant which was there all the time.

Scott talked about how, in yoga, we too are chiseling away at all of the extra stuff that has collected on us, in our minds, that is not truly who we are.  It is chiseling away the negative thoughts, the past experiences, the future anxieties.  It is freeing us from using others as a way of defining ourselves. The practice of yoga is chiseling away at all of that extra stuff in order to discover and release your true self.

Chisel away my friends.