I aim to live my life with the attitude -- “If not me to bring forth the qualities that I wish to see in the world then who?”—If I want to see honesty or bravery or leadership or compassion, I pray that I don’t wait for someone else to exemplify these qualities.
In yoga we have an opposite notion or a contrary image about how wisdom takes form within the human mind. Instead of thinking that attaining knowledge is about filling up our minds with learning, facts, information, viewpoints, stances, opinions and such—the yogi aspires to empty out of all thoughts and become ‘void minded’.
Each of us is meant to walk through our days finding our own unique ways of contributing to cosmic goodness. Each person’s sacred work is ongoing. It happens in the immediate moment in every choice you make and every interaction you have with your self and others.
There was a devoted man, a self-taught yogi on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. He had all of these devotional practices that were half based on Hindu rituals and half what he had made up.
In weak moments I reason that I can’t do more or that yoga doesn’t have answers or the little practice that I do each day doesn’t adequately speak to or address what is happening right now with things seeming to be spinning out of control on every fault line across the entire spectrum of existence.
The yogi wants to drop all ideas and know reality from a place of no thought, direct experience without language or concept. The ordinary woman cherishes ideas above all else. Spends the first one third of her life in school, studying ideas, and then she goes to work generating and selling ideas.
...its important to remember that your struggles with the difficult physical actions are merely a warm up for the stances that yoga ethics demand.
There are no easy or fast solutions to many of the problems we each face personally as well as collectively. There is often great complexity in the even the basic matters that we must deal with. The complexity that is inherent to acting skillfully and responding fittingly to whatever circumstances we face requires us to be patient, caring, and compassionate with ourselves and with each other.
I’ve increased my tapas because I have one dream and one dream only, and that is to do whatever I can to help the world move towards peace instead of heading towards destruction through engaging in uncompromising, fruitless, imperiling conflict.
I came across these words of one dancer: “The bravest thing a dancer can do is get old”. The same is true of a hatha yogi who dares to get old and keep practicing.
