Manduka US Site

December 3rd, 2010

Aligning Passion With Purpose

by Stephanie Stano, Founder of Recycle Your Mat

Aligning passion with purpose is a continuation of yoga in our everyday lives.

One of the reasons I cherish yoga is that it is so many different things to so many different people. You can see this reflected in the responses to Manduka’s #Practice Campaign. It really is quite amazing that in a class where we all are doing the same poses and same breathing techniques, the experience is uniquely personal.

There is at least one thread of continuity that runs between all practitioners and it is the ability for yoga to help us focus internally and tap into that fire that burns within us all. In the body’s stillness and in the space between thoughts, I heard the calling of my divine purpose. Aligning with my purpose helped clarify how I might best serve our culture and our society in a way that is a full expression of the gifts I have to give.

It has been said that a successful culture provides opportunities for its citizens to be able to fully express their potential and understand how it ties into the over whole of the culture. In this time of greater unemployment and chronic underutilization of employees’ abilities, many of us are looking to find other ways to express and fulfill the potential burning inside.

As with yoga, many of us will find our own outlet varies greatly from others. For me, it was creating Recycle Your Mat as an outlet to project and live aligned with my innate sense of environmental caring and reverence for nature. For others it may be service through volunteering, climbing the corporate ladder or pulling away from society all together. We all have value and an opportunity to express our unique internal fire regardless of our employment, financial or social status. Doing yoga has helped me listen to and share the passionate flame that is unique to me. May yoga continue to help each of us find our flame and give us the courage to let it brightly shine!