Please push me to my edge... to where I lose confidence, so that I may gain confidence.

Throughout my childhood, my parents often told me that I was not living up to my own potential... specifically in regards to my musical training and academics. Because success came easily for me, I was unmotivated to work any harder than necessary. I wasn't striving to fulfill my own potential, only to achieve a respectable degree of success in comparison to my peers. I played it safe.

However, I had an older brother and friends who pushed me out of my comfort zone, consistently. It brought up all of my insecurities and forced me to face my fears, again and again. As I advanced into adulthood, it became obvious to me that as I grew more confident, I needed a greater push to get me to that edge. The notion of playing it safe no longer appealed to me.

As I look at the world around me, I see too many people who consistently hedge their bets and make pragmatic choices... from day to day decisions to those opportunities that might come around once in a decade.

In contrast, I also meet people who consistently test their limits and go big. And with risk comes commensurate reward. Those people inspire me tremendously. They have become my role models, who by their example, push me positively towards my growing edge.

I dream big. And I've decided to LIVE just as big. Unless I practice... practice playing my edge and getting out of my comfort zone, I won't be prepared to make the big choices that will enable me to LIVE my dreams.

The moral of this story... PLEASE GO BIG! The world is waiting for your immeasurable impact.

"Penetration of our mind is our goal, but in the beginning to set things in motion, there is no substitute for sweat." ~ B.K.S. Iyengar

10 years into my yoga practice, I'm realizing just how close I remain to the beginning... just sweating it out. 

When I consider Mr. Iyengar's personal accomplishments, and by extension, the accomplishments of his students and their students and so on, it is mind boggling. Even today, several generations removed from the original source of these teachings, I remain intimately connected to Mr. Iyengar's immeasurable personal impact on the evolution of Hatha yoga.

In my short career as a yoga teacher, I've reached thousands of students. How many more teachers like myself are out there, sharing the light of yoga? How many more have benefited from this man's contribution to the evolution of yoga in the West?

Ultimately, yoga is the practice of taking ownership of my seat and being comfortable in my own skin; the practice of embracing my talents and discovering my limitations; the practice of cultivating the courage to follow my heart and the discipline to carve out that path.

As I see it, the greatest homage that I can pay to the source of these teachings, to all of my teachers, is to continue to sweat. Reciprocally, it's the same price I pay to serve my students.

When I begin to work with a new principle or lesson, I have found it helpful to apply that AIM to everything I do over the course of a week.

The timeframe gives it focus and yields potency. The scope is purposefully broad to observe the effects of applying the lesson to various situations. Since the common denominator in every situation is always me, I get to experience more of myself in relationship to the lesson from those various perspectives.

My motto for this week: good day, bad day, same day. Everyday counts.

I'm a chronic procrastinator. In the absence of a parent, teacher or boss breathing down my neck, I have to motivate myself to work to my capacity. To apply the lesson of the week, it is my aim to do what I can do tomorrow, today; and in so doing, reverse the cycle of procrastination.

Beyond the scope of "work", this concept adds tremendous value to everyday when everyday counts.

In my last year of college, I took on a challenge to live the next year of my life as though it was my last. I resolved to make that year count. During that following year, I moved to Hawaii, learned to surf, started practicing yoga and took advantage of every opportunity to challenge myself. In that window of a year, I acquired a taste for seizing the moment and living life to capacity.

When everyday counts, the days that count add up... into weeks, months, years, decades; into a lifetime that counts.

So what's your motto?

When I began my yoga practice, it was easy to see progress in terms of poses. I was humbled by the poses and embraced the challenge. For example, it took me a solid three months before I could touch my toes with my legs straight. That was a big moment.

The Ashtanga series was my first considerable investment in a yoga practice. It was physically demanding and the learning curve was steep. The achievement of poses became benchmarks as an affirmation of my progress.

After a year of dedicated practice, I hit a plateau. I didn’t see the same degree of evolution in my poses. Instead, they seemed better or worse depending on my state of mind. The rough days were amongst the most valuable in my personal development, as they forged tenacity into my practice.

All the while, the core of my practice was getting stronger and I began to appreciate the transformative effect of the practice on my state of mind.

A decade later, I’m still practicing the same poses. My physical practice hasn’t changed nearly as much as my awareness within the practice. I have a clear vision of what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. That clarity lends itself to all other aspects of my life and that's where I discover the real value of practice.

So here’s the moral of the story: Put effort into practice, and progress is a sure thing.