Fourth Form of Madness

I love yoga, it’s no secret.  I love that nothing is ever purely intellectual in it or purely physical but asks of you a dash of both and very big serve of courage and heart.  Nothing is learnt purely by the brain or the body but a mixture of both and through a beautiful grace which dances like a feather in the breeze just beyond the reach of explaining.

There are many techniques of yoga that we may practice.  You can find them listed in any half decent  yoga book.  It’s good to remember though they are the techniques not the essence of yoga. You might nail the best headstand ever but still be dismally unhappy and unpleasant to people.  You might be able to chant the yoga sutras in its entirely backwards and in an ancient dialect long ago forgotten by this modern world but still lie and cheat yourself and other people.  The real practices are there for you, in your life, in how you live it.  In thought, in words and in action.

Book 2 verse 33 of the Yoga Sutra now there’s a practice!  When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite (positive) ones should be thought of.  Sounds easy when you read it.  But anyone caught in the depth of depression or the agony of anxiety will know that this is not easy and at times does not even feel plausible or possible.  Sometimes just getting out of bed is the practice and finding a reason to breath takes everything you have.  Nothing is gained by being dismissive of this very real pain and suffering.  At times the oppressiveness and darkness that can be our thoughts and our inner world seem almost convincing in their illusion of how we and reality are.  But this is exactly the time to start practicing this sutra, when all is at it’s darkest, as the contrast of the light, even the tiniest flicker of a flame, will be at it’s greatest.

We can all finds ways to bring this practice into our everyday lives.  Think of when you are in traffic and someone cuts you off and then gestures rudely in your direction.  Angry, hurtful, hate filled thoughts might bubble to the surface and if you wanted to you could really grab hold of those thoughts and feed them and make them bigger and bigger until they occupied your every thought, word and action.  But how would that make you feel and the other people around you feel?  Do you really think hanging onto thoughts of this nature are enriching your life and your spirit?  Where have these types of thoughts led you before and have they ever honestly made your life better in any way?

And here is where I love this practice the most, you really have to practice it, over and over and over again.  Each and everytime the opportunity arises.  You don’t just think a loving thought towards the person who puts their yoga mat down in your designated (in your mind only) place in the yoga studio  and think you have nailed this sutra.  Oh no.  Just like the body, the mind needs to be exercised daily to feel the effects of the practice.  At every opportunity you have to show up and give it your best shot.

When you are practically sweating from the efforts to hold back shouting at someone who has just insulted you – you practice.  When all you really want to do is give in to that rage that is developing in your stomach because of this or that, you practice.  When you really are tittering on the edge of delivering a cutting comment to someone who has repeated and joyfully crushed your spirit, you practice.  Somedays the practice will be easier than others and let’s face it some days it will really suck and you will really suck at it (if my own practice of this is to go by :-)).  But every effort made in the right direction is really something and goes a really long way.

And here’s the thing.  What you are really practicing here is empathy.  A word we often struggle to define but will know it through our body when we practice it.  That ability to cultivate the opposite is made possible by practicing empathy towards others.  You are cultivating an understanding of the other person even if you do not and will not ever agree with what they are saying or doing.  You are trying to understand how that person is in your life today saying and doing the things they are doing got to this point.  You are willing to walk in another person’s shoes to at the very least understand what life is like for them.   Tough tough tough practice.   But the reason it is so worthwhile, the reason we endure and continue along the path of practicing empathy, is it is the beautiful precursor of the prize jewel, compassion.  And what the world needs right now, more than anything is compassionate people.