What it Means to Find Your Center（找到你的中心是什么意思）
Our yoga class today focused on helping us to locate and find our center, a very important concept in yoga. But what does it mean to find your center? And what do we achieve by doing so?
First of all, we have to understand that the concept of center in yoga has a multifold meaning. At its fundamental, yoga is a union of mind, body and spirit, so the concept of the center in yoga derives from a juxtaposition of these ideas:
1. It is a physical center, a location just below the belly button, where the solar plexus (our 3rdchakra) is located. This is known anatomically as our core, and consists of muscles in the abdominal region as well as in the lower and middle back.
2. It is a spiritual center. The 3rd chakra is our center of strength. From it we derive our courage, our power and convictions, the ability to act purposefully and make decisions, etc.
In this sense, finding our center in yoga does not just mean locating it physically. It means, both in a physical and spiritual sense, learning to move from our center, learning to use its power and strength, and learning to lead our lives in a way that remains true to this center. As with other lessons in yoga, this is something that we have to live and experience both on and off the yoga mat so that, ultimately, it becomes a part of who we are.
1) Learning to Move From the Center
l Physically speaking, this means beginning all movements from the core outwards, using the strength and stability of the core muscles of the body to initiate and lead our movements. This gives us power, strength and optimal alignment, preventing injury and improving the posture so that our breath and energy (also called prana or chi) can flow freely.
l Mentally speaking, as yogis we have to remain true to ourselves, to our true convictions, and to the purity inside us. All our actions should arise from this place inside us so that we can live peacefully and with no regrets. Understanding our convictions and acting based on these true beliefs will also result is steadfastness, determination and courage in our lives.
2) Finding Balance
l Finding our physical center helps to keep the body steady and balanced. One very important aspect of this in yoga is maintaining the pelvis aligned and steady. One of my yoga teachers has described the pelvis as a bowl that holds the sacred water of the Ganges. As such, we must not tilt the bowl and spill this sacred water. Upsetting the balance of the pelvis causes us to lose stability and power.
l Similarly, it is important to keep ourselves aligned in our spiritual and mental lives as well. Excesses and imbalances of any sort can cause other areas of our lives to become misaligned as well as with our physical bodies, everything is connected and nothing moves in isolation.
3) Becoming Grounded
l Strengthening our center leads to stability. With good alignment and posture and a well-centered body, our feet remain firmly planted on the ground even in challenging asana and difficult balancing postures.
l Similarly, once we have found our spiritual and mental center and strengthened and balanced it, we have a sense of grounding and stability in our lives. We no longer feel like we are freewheeling through our day to day with no control over what comes next; we are overtaken by a sense of calm and serenity as we appreciate that we can remain quite still even as the world revolves around us. We find the support of mother earth even in the most tumultuous of times, and we are not easily toppled over.
我们今天的瑜伽课，专注于中心并帮助我们找到中心，这在瑜伽中是一个非常重要的概念。但到底找到你的中心是什么意思？我怎么样做才能到达？
首先，我们要了解该中心的概念在瑜珈中有多方面的含义。从根本上讲，瑜伽是思想、身体和精神的结合，瑜珈中心的概念也从这产生以下想法：
1， 它是一个物理中心，略低于肚脐的位置，那里是太阳神经丛（我们的第3轮）的位置。在解剖学上叫核心，核心包括了背中部和背下部、腹部区域的肌肉，
2， 这是一个精神中心。第三个脉轮是我们力量的中心。从中我们得到我们的勇气、力量和信念，行动目的地和作出决定的能力，等等。
在这个意义上，我们发现在瑜伽中心并不仅仅在身体上定位它。这也意味着，无论它是在身体上还是精神意义上，都要学习如何从我们的中心移动，学习运用它的能量和力量；学习这个中心，如何领导我们的生活。如同其他那些瑜珈教会我们的一样，这个也必须通过经历和经验，然后离开我们的瑜伽垫，最终，它成为我们的一部分。
1）学习移动从中心
l 物理上讲，这意味着所有的移动开始是从核心向外运动，利用身体核心肌肉的强度和稳定性，以发起和带领我们的动作。这给了我们力、力量以及最佳的移动方式，防止损伤，改善姿势，使我们的呼吸和能量（也称为普拉纳或卡）可以自由流动。
l 精神上来讲，作为瑜珈修行者，我们要忠于自己，忠于我们的的信念，以及纯净我们的内心。我们所有的行为应该产生在我们里面的这个地方，使我们可以和平及无遗憾地享受生活。了解我们的信念和行动是基于这些真实的信念之上，也将在我们的生活中给予坚定、决心和勇气。
2）寻找平衡
l 寻找我们的物理中心，有助于保持身体稳定和平衡。在瑜伽中，一个非常重要的方面：保持骨盆两边的一致和稳定。我的一位瑜珈老师是这样描述的：骨盆作为一个碗，保存着恒河的圣水。因此，我们绝不能倾斜了碗和泼洒这圣水。扰乱骨盆的平衡会使我们失去稳定性和力量。
l 同样，以保持我们自己在精神与心理生活上对齐，也是非常重要。任何形式的过度和不平衡的行为都可能会导致我们生活的其他领域形成错位，我们的身体也一样，一切都有连接，没有移动可以隔离。
3）连接大地
l 加强我们的中心，带来稳定。校准定位和姿态，只要我们的脚保持不变，即使在富有挑战性的体式和艰难的平衡姿势上，身体也能牢牢地插在地上。