“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; or you can live as if everything is a miracle.”

–Albert Einstein

Making this distinction may seem at first like a contrived intellectual exercise. However, living life from the perspective that everything is a miracle can profoundly change your attitude. It can change your attitude towards yourself, your actions, and the world around you. Even if you don’t change anything about what you do, the meaning of what you do changes profoundly based on your attitude towards it. And as the meaning changes, the actions will eventually change as a result, without concrete intention on your part.

Practice as if everything is a miracle

This week, we will practice yoga from the perspective that everything is a miracle. The miracle that we are here at all. The miracle of our bodies and minds and what we can do with them, especially when they are more thoroughly integrated. The delicate miracle of the sensation of a stretch here, and of a subtle compression there. The delicate miracle of each movement of an ankle, a hip, a wrist, a vertebra. As we practice this week, we begin to observe how this shift in attitude can transform the meaning of our practice. Eventually, it can transform our practice itself.

How can a change in attitude transform our practice? When we cultivate an attitude of the miraculousness of life, subtle sensations take on a meaning of their own. They begin to reveal to us an innate beauty and value that are not tied to any accomplishment. They reveal a value that isn’t just a means to an end. When we immerse ourselves in the beauty inherent in the miracle of life and in all its messy, imperfect details, our goals and to-do lists and achievements start to seem a little less important. As our goals and to-do lists begin to fade, we find that we are more able to be here, now, with a sense of joy.

When we savor the here and now, our dissatisfaction dissipates

When you immerse yourself in the beauty of what IS, you grow less interested in escaping this moment in time. You grow less interested in striving towards some idea of a better place, whether that is a new job or a more advanced version of King Pigeon pose. This isn’t to say that a job better suited to your temperament might not be a wise move. Rather, it is to remind us that celebrating what IS is a powerful act.

A change made from a place of fullness and appreciation is likely more powerful and more beneficial than any change made from a feeling of dissatisfaction. If we act from a place where nothing is a miracle, that attitude of dissatisfaction has a habit of staying with us. It may cause us to grow dissatisfied all too quickly with the better here and now we struggled to achieve. But when you create change from a place of appreciation and gratitude, that change will be more rewarding, more powerful, and more permanent.