The Artist Within

The experience of yoga is like being in the presence of a great artwork. Multi-faceted and multi-leveled, great art can be understood in as many different ways as there are people to experience it. Interpretations may differ even to a single individual as he or she travels through the different stages of life. No two people interpret an artwork in exactly the same way, so it is with yoga. Even teachers who have studied with the same master will ultimately teach with varied approaches. With that in mind, I am reminded of a quotation that our daughters' piano teacher had framed on the wall above her piano. It went something like this:  "A person who uses his hands and plays the piano is a pianist; a person who uses his hands and his brain to play the piano is a musician; and a person who uses his hands, his brain, and his heart to play the piano is an artist." So some days we may experience yoga in a very mechanical way, other days with intellectual understanding so clear as to glimpse the infinite, but it will be the times we experience the artist within that will be the most fulfilling, transforming, and transcending. So what do say we open our hearts and give a tip of the hat to the artist within?