🌸 Mother’s Day is more than a holiday — it’s a sacred opportunity to return to the heart. Whether we are celebrating the mothers who raised us, the ones who nurtured us in spirit, or the feminine energy of life itself, this day invites us to embody the deepest teachings of yoga: love that is unconditional, compassion that listens, joy that celebrates, and peace that remains unshaken.

"Let each revolution around the sun be a celebration of greater love, light, peace, and joy in our hearts and in our lives."
— Swami Karunananda

In Yoga Sutra 1.33, Patañjali teaches that the path to peace of mind begins with cultivating attitudes toward others that are deeply rooted in the Divine Abodes:

• Maitrī ~ Loving-kindness toward the joyful

• Karunā ~ Empathy toward the suffering

• Muditā ~ Shared joy toward the virtuous

• Upekṣā ~ Equanimity toward the cycles of joy and sorrow

These qualities mirror the ways a mother holds space: with tenderness, with care, with celebration of growth, and with steady patience.

💗 Love as a Daily Ritual

As Swami Karunananda reminds us, each journey around the sun is not just time passed, but a revolution — a return to the essence. Love, in this light, is not just sentiment but a choice, a practice, a revolution of the heart. And just like motherhood, it asks us to expand our capacity — to hold contradictions, to forgive often, to begin again.

In yoga, Maitrī is loving-kindness, a warm friendliness that does not require reciprocity. It is the essence of the mothering spirit: to offer love without condition or agenda. Whether to others or to ourselves, when we offer Maitrī, we become vessels of healing.

❤️‍🩹 Compassion that Sees Clearly

A true mother does not ignore pain — she leans into it, holds it, soothes it. Karunā, or compassion, is not pity but presence. On Mother's Day, we honor those who have held us through storms — and we also reflect on how we show up for ourselves with the same grace. Compassion is a mirror. It sees suffering without being consumed by it.

🌼 Joy Shared Is Joy Multiplied

Muditā teaches us to rejoice in the happiness and success of others without envy. This quality is so deeply maternal — the quiet joy in a child’s first step, the pride in another’s achievement, even when no credit is given. When we embody Muditā, we realize that joy is not a pie to be divided, but a candle whose flame spreads without loss.

🌗 Equanimity in All Seasons

Upekṣā is the mother’s strength in chaos — the stillness amidst mess, the calm in conflict. It is the ability to love without needing to control, to serve without attachment to outcome. When we cultivate Upekṣā, we allow others — and ourselves — to grow in their own time, in their own way.

This Mother’s Day, may we dwell in the Divine Abodes — not only in honor of the love we’ve received, but as giving love as our sacred ritual every time with practice. May our hearts be uplifted & renewed by love, light, peace, and joy — and may we nurture the world with daily choices of gentleness & grace.  Victory to that light!