It’s graduation season!  This is the time when we celebrate academic achievement, and for some, survival.  In the weeks to come there will be countless ceremonies, speeches, and parties to celebrate.

When we are immersed in the daily work, the sometimes mundane, seemingly insignificant moments of life, it can be hard to see the development, discovery, and change that happens.  It is those moments that collect and accumulate to create the peak.  It is meticulously showing your work when you learn long division in grade school that prepares you for the intricacies of calculus.  It’s the time spent drilling vocabulary in middle school that fortifies you for that final paper in British Literature.

In our yoga practice we can draw similar parallels.  We tend to celebrate peak achievements in our yoga practice, usually not with ceremonies, speeches, and parties.  The perfect handstand, the absorbing meditation, or the completely bliss-filled savasana are held in our hearts and minds as accomplishments.  It’s the countless breaths in down dog that prepare you to handstand.  It’s the few moments of silence that build to create a meaningful meditation.  And it’s each and every detachment that sets you up for those extended moments of clarity and peace.

Whether your peak is in your academic, yoga, professional, or personal life, take a moment to consider how you got to this summit.  Then, celebrate the milestone, the recognized accomplishment!  But, give a nod, a bow, and pay homage to each stage, each krama, each success, and each trial that got you there.

In education, in yoga, and in life, the peak is not the end.  It can be easy to “rest on our laurels”, to feel satisfied in our accomplishments, or to take up residency at a milestone marker.  Life and learning continue to move forward.  There is always something more to learn, something more to try, something new to experience.  So, keep moving forward, keep growing, and keep celebrating as you go.

ConGRADulations!