09/14/2026
Two weeks ago today, my brother passed away.
I was able to be with him when he passed and at some point while I was sitting at his bedside in the hospital with him on full life support, these words from one of my teachers rose to the surface of my awareness:
“Yoga is preparation for death”
I have heard him say this many times over the years and up until that moment, I always thought of this teaching as pertaining to preparing myself for my own death…and it is, but it is SO much deeper than that!
My teacher would always invite us into some form of the following self-inquiry when thinking about yoga through this lens:
-What state of mind do I want to be in when I take my last breath?
-Where do I want the focus of my heart?
-Do I want to be in a state of grasping and attachment to my physical body, or do I want to be able to surrender into the knowing that my body is impermanent and my true nature as unchanging pure awareness, consciousness itself, continues on?
This is a deep teaching in and of itself and it feels even deeper now after going through this experience.
All along, without me realizing it, my practice was preparing me for these final moments with my brother.
What was the state of my mind?
It was profoundly clear. I was able to see that he wouldn’t want what was happening to him and was able to make the decision to take him off life support from a place of clarity.
Where was the focus of my heart?
It was with his heart, and the knowing that this decision was one of the most loving acts I could do for him in this life.
Was I in a state grasping and attachment?
No. I was able to see and feel that he had already let go of his body, he was just waiting for his heart and mind to be released back into the stream of consciousness.
I held his hand, placed my other hand on his heart and told him it was okay to let go. I was chanting this mantra when I felt his heart beat its final beat and in that moment, he became free. A beautiful and effortless release, like a river returning to the ocean.
oṃ asato mā sadgamaya
tamaso mā jyotirgamaya
mṛtyormā amṛtaṃ gamaya
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
This mantra is a verse from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and has been a part of my personal practice for many years. I offer to you this expanded translation 🤲
Om - The pranava. The eternal sound that connects us all; that invokes, contains and reveals the divine(whatever that means to you).
Lead me from the unreal to the real; from untruth to the truth of my true nature, the true nature of the world around me and that of ultimate reality.
Lead me from the darkness of my own ignorance to the light of pure awareness.
Lead me from the attachment to that which dies to eternal life as consciousness itself, which was never born and therefore can never die.
Om- peace peace peace - at all levels of existence
Yoga is preparation for death & being alive is complex.
We are meant to experience life in all its beauty and its heartbreaking complexity.
I feel it is important to say that practicing yoga does not allow, nor does this practice encourage us to bypass or “rise above” the grief and other complex emotions that come with losing a loved one.
I am deep in ALL of it.
Grief is important human experience and we all take that inevitable journey in our own way and in our own time.
P.S. My sincere hope is that you get to experience yoga beyond the poses. Beyond the watered down, stripped-for-parts version of this tradition that has been reduced to a form of stretching and fitness. May you find a teacher that can walk beside you as you move towards the truth. Maybe that’s me.
Photo note: My dog found this cat skull on the day my brother passed. Yes, I brought it home.
