No problem in the present moment.

Yesterday I was lucky and able to attend two vinyasa flow classes, one in the morning and one in the evening. At the end of one as we lay in half pigeon pose, my teacher attributed a quote to Eckert Tolle, telling us that he said "In the present moment there are no problems". It has been ringing through my head for the past 36 hours.

Because I shamefully admit to being rather contrary most of the time  yesterday, my first thought was "of course there are this position would have been a very big problem for me a year ago in the wake of breaking my hip. A huge, painful problem". Anyway, after going to a gentle yoga class this morning and an incredibly slow and deep and profoundly grounding yoga journey class tonight I knew that I had to read more about it.

Turns out the quote wasn't exact, but it's close enough.

ECKHART: That's right. Many people identify their sense of self with the problems they have, or think they have. As a reality test, I ask people, "What problem do you have at this moment? Not in an hour or tomorrow, but what problem do you have now?" Sometimes they'll suddenly wake up when they hear that question, because they realize that at that moment, they don't have a problem. 
OPRAH: Maybe at that moment, during a lecture with you-but what if you're in a dangerous situation in the present moment? That's a problem! What then? 
ECKHART: If danger arises in the present moment, there may be an emotion. There may even be pain. But that's a challenge, not a problem. For a problem to exist, you need time and repetitive mind activity. In a dangerous situation, you don't have time to turn it into a problem. So when people ask how they can get over their problems, I suggest that they go into the present moment and see what the problem is now. They always have to admit, "Well, right now I don't actually have a problem." Even people serving life sentences in prison have written to me to say, "I understood your message, and I have become free." They're free inside.

Read more: 

I love yoga because it brings my oftentimes wildly careening mind to the present moment. Moving through asanas allow me to sink deeply and gratefully into savasana at the end of my practice. Savasana, the simplest looking yet most difficult pose in yoga. Patanjali said that most of the time we live in loops of distraction or avoidance, which he called avidya, or ignorance. Tonight one of my very favorite teachers led us through an entire 75 minute practice which probably consisted of no more than 6 asanas, held for a long time, entered into with precise intention and precision. During savasana she talked about how we were safe, how we were in a secure place, with the Earth below us, holding us closely. It brought tears to my eyes. Im not sure why I am so emotional today. I don't know if it was thinking about what half pigeon would have felt like a year ago, versus now? Is it the slight sense of life vertigo that I have from this bizarre winter and the nocation and week of complete non normalcy? Whatever it is I am laying here in my bed overwhelmed with gratitude for the ability to practice yoga. After remembering how it was to be so badly injured, and to now see how I feel after just a week away from my mat, I will never, ever take the practice of yoga for granted. Yoga has gone from being something that I liked, to something that I loved, to, now, something that I need.

Has anyone read "The Power of Now"? I see that its free for Amazon Prime kindle users so I'm going to give it a go after my current book. Because right now, in this moment, I don't have any problems ;)