Small moments help us be big

Occasionally, science headlines sing the same song as yoga and mindfulness practices, and this week's nuclear fusion news was pitch perfect.

After decades of trying, researchers succeeded in using laser beams to collapse a hydrogen atom, creating a net gain of clean energy output. The implications for future climate preservation are huge. So is the cosmic echo of yogic teachings. For millenia, yogis have been using the laser focus of their minds to shine an inner light of attention that can fuse the atoms of distraction and yield a sustaining, interconnected energy of wide open awareness.

The third book of the Yoga Sutras teaches that perfected attention is the beating heart of yoga, and focusing directly on inner light may reveal the vast subtleties of all that is. The sages believed that with attention on the navel, we can know our entire bodies; with focus on the moon, we can know the night sky; with focus on the sun, we can know the whole universe.

This phenomenon of sharply focused attention yielding a surplus of energy is the opposite of our social programming, which tells us to divide attention in multi-tasked directions, to push beyond our comfort zones, to go big or go home, but all this external focus can leave us frustrated, anxious, and depleted, much like the state of Earth itself.

My invitation to you is simple: to feel the power of your being and to radiate all that's good in your heart, slow down. Slow down, take a breath, and turn your gaze inward toward the smallest and simplest moment you can find. That's when we generate our own little sunbursts, giving us the fuel we need to face the world with loving kindness and compassion.

~ Annie Moyer

P.S. Click here for a dharma talk and meditation practice on this theme, and join me in the new year on Wednesday nights (7:00p ET) in the studio and live on YouTube for more talks, meditation, and community.