The View From Above

High up in the hills of Berkeley, California, I paused beneath a brilliant, cloudless sky to take in the magnificent sweep of San Francisco Bay below.

"Wow, what an incredible view," I said to a young man working in a nearby yard. With characteristic Northern California friendliness, he stopped to take in the vista with me.

“Yep…this view’ll make you live longer,” he replied.

His comment struck me as quite yogic – this intuitive connection between expansive views and longevity. Who’s to say whether the spacious perspective we cultivate in yoga extends our lives, though it surely enriches whatever time we do have here.

From the broader vantage point of witnessing our minds, we gain equanimity – the mental distance needed to make sense of life's complexities unfolding down in the flatlands of our everyday lives.

As Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh said: You climb the mountain to be able to look over the whole situation, not bound by one side or the other.

The equanimity that comes from cultivating an expansive inner vista is one of yoga's most precious gifts. It allows you to hold life's messiness and confusion within a larger, more spacious awareness – seeing clearly without being drawn into the fray.

To be clear, the goal isn't to remain perpetually on that metaphorical hilltop, but rather to bring some of that clarity, insight, and tranquility back down into daily life.

The next time you feel overwhelmed, remember that you can always pause to access this broader perspective through a few conscious breaths, a moment of open-eyed meditation, or simply stepping back from the immediacy of the situation.

Like climbing an inner mountain, practice empowers you to access this spacious vantage point at any time.

Like that sweeping view of the Bay, this wider lens might just help you live better, if not longer.