YS II.46 stira sukam asanam the connection with the earth should be steady and joyfulYS II.47 prayatna shaithilya ananta samapattibhyam the means of perfecting the connection (posture/seat) is that of relaxing or loosening of effort and allowing attention to merge with endlessness, or the infiniteYS II.48 tatah dvandva anabhighata from the attainment of perfected connection (posture/seat), there arises an unimpeded freedom from suffering due to the pairs of opposites (such as likes and dislikes, or pain and pleasure)
All of life, it seems, can be boiled down to moments of coming together, and separating apart. Things all around us are in a constant state of fluidity and change, and this can be very destabilising, especially if the body and mind are busy processing all this change; especially if we perceive the transience all around us as important, as real.
When I look back over my own life, I have been moved to a place of instability, disconnection and loneliness at the time I have felt insecure in myself. The insecurities have come from what boils down to a longing for togetherness, a longing to belong. What I did not realize (and still sometimes forget), is that I never didn’t belong. We all belong, we have a reason and a purpose to exist. We are all complete just as we are, and our completeness comes from our connection. When we recognise this, the points of divergence, the things that limit and separate us disappear. Each one of us has the potential to do beyond-human things. Each one of us has the potential for magic. When we perceive reality as the things around us that are constantly changing, however, we forget how to simply be, and instead end up longing. The magic comes in shifting our perception of what is real, of what is important. We are so much more than the body and the mind and the events that shake our foundation. When we realise our connection and points of similarity with all other beings, we cease to see other beings. We see ourselves in everything, we realize we are, in fact, united. This is when we can stop trying to Belong, and simply Be. This is when we have perfected our asana.
When we are able to fine a place of ease in our body and mind and let go of the entwinement of the daily happenings around us, the moments in our life that once defined us become but a thread in our rich life’s journey that we create together; and together, we are more than the sum of our parts, we are limitless.
When we come to the mat to practice asana, we aim to create a connection that is steady and joy-filled by way of making shapes that resemble beings with diverse physical forms: the tree, the crow, the mountain. The more we see beyond the shapes we assume with our body into the very nature of each form, the more we have the potential to merge with the form. This is when we cease trying to create a ‘pose’ and simply inhabit the connection, the asana. We can relax into the asana, we can relax in our life, we can stop identifying with all the things that lead to separation and longing. This is convergence, this the state of yoga.
Comentários