The content below was written as part of my 200 hour yoga teacher training final; it is my response to the following prompt: Compose your definition of yoga in a 2-3 page essay based on the Soul School reading list…
Yoga is a force unlike any other and, yet, present in all aspects of life. It is the power of unification, the presence that connects all beings and objects that live and grow and die. For over a thousand years, humans have engaged their bodies and minds in practices designed to cultivate this power and to understand its effect on their lives as individuals and their relationships to the world around them. Inviting yoga into one’s life is an opportunity to practice becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable. It is an opportunity to practice letting go so that death is not a struggle, so that the inevitable and various pains of living can be transformed into moments of beauty and lessons to help us grow, become stronger, more powerful and capable of greater love.
As a practice, yoga is a system of physical and mental conditioning and exploration designed to cultivate this universal power within an individual. As a yogi(ni), I explore the abilities of my physical body in order to find ease and peace within greater degrees of potential discomfort. I attempt to expand my awareness of the present moment, searching for stillness in order to observe the never-ending currents of thoughts and sensations, and sitting with emptiness to explore what arises. Ultimately, I practice letting go of my attachment to physical sensations, thoughts, and emotions in order to prepare for the last great transformation: from existence as a living being to death.
In many ways, I find the practice of yoga to be a synonym for the human experience (a subject I am fascinated with). In order to get the most out of them, both living and yoga require flexibility and strength in the mind, heart, and physical body. They require balance between effort and ease. Also required are great sensitivity, awareness, presence, courage, and patience. And both must allow space for joy and rage and despair and all extremes of emotion in the service of great peace and stillness. While accepting that perfection is an absolute that is unattainable as we understand it, the practice of yoga and the practice of living nonetheless demand diligence and action. Learn, grow, and change, or stay the same, stagnate, and die. Death of the physical body is, of course, an inevitable. The practice and cultivation of yoga gives us the power to transform our lives into what we want them to be while we still have the option to do so.
For me, yoga is the practice where I experience coming home to my body and mind. Yoga has enabled me to feel my presence completely fill my physical body, from the deepest and emptiest core of my being all the way to the outer edges of my skull, my fingers and toes, and the outer layers of my skin. Yoga is what transforms me from a small hearted and lonely person into a divine being capable of creating and sustaining, of breaking down and rebuilding the world - my life, this day, this moment - anew. My most personal definition of yoga is that it is the art of using a variety of practices to cultivate and realize my greatest power and potential, to sense the divine essence of life within myself, and to have the strength to attempt to share all of this with the world around me.
The physical practice of yoga is largely identified with one of Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga: asana. Asana is a Sanskrit word which can be translated to seat, but commonly refers to the practice of various postures, positions, or poses. This is the most common understanding of yoga in the west: taking a stance or stances which require great physical flexibility. My studies have lead me to understand that an asana practice requires one to cultivate not only physical flexibility, but also physical strength - and that flexibility and strength of the mind and heart, as well as the body, are just as integral to the physical practice of yoga.
The breath is what keeps our bodies alive and, as such, is our most direct link to the force that defines us as living beings. Humans can live for weeks without food, for days without water, but only minutes without breathing (Soul School Manual, “Asana & Breathing” p. 20). Because breath controls our heart rate and the rate at which oxygen enters the bloodstream, even our pulse is determined by our breath. The practice of controlled breathing is also identified in Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga, it is known as pranayama. “Prana” is a Sanskrit term which can be translated as breath, life force, or vital principle. Breath awareness is, indeed, vital to the practice of yoga. By linking movement to breath, a movement practice can become a meditation practice.
While the physical aspects of a yoga practice are the most well known in the Western world, the mental aspects are just as important. The mental aspects of yoga as I understand them are meditation, philosophical inquiry, and study. As Lorin Roche puts it, “Meditation is about being intimate with your deepest self” (Meditation Made Easy, p. 4). Through meditation and study of ancient texts and current interpretations, I am led to a path of questioning. These inquiries help me to recognize and challenge any assumptions I have been making; the path they lead to is one of curiosity and one filled with opportunities to stimulate my various intelligences and imagination.
Philosophical inquiry fascinates me. Questions which dig deeply into matters of the heart and human existence, which cannot be answered lightly or without serious contemplation - this is part of our experience as living and sentient beings. We are humans: we learn to work together to survive. But more than that, we want to thrive, to be successful and happy. Why do we want the things that we want? And why do we not want the things that we don’t want? The answers to these questions lie in places of deep truth and require contemplation. The answers bring us to greater understandings of ourselves and our worlds. And finding peace when answers cannot be found easily or at all is just as important. Letting go of the need for understanding or of the need for one, perfect, right answer to any question is just as important as asking the questions themselves.
The mental practices of deep inquiry and meditation are helpful to cultivating ease when dealing with life’s hardest experiences and with life’s most puzzling questions. Building strength in the physical body brings courage to the heart. A concept introduced to us over the course of our Soul School trainings was that of tensegrity: rigid structures held together by flexible parts. The etymology of this word comes from “tension” and “integrity.” Balancing effort and ease is integral in developing a healthy physical practice of yoga, and to do so requires an open mind and an open heart. The struggle therein is this: an open heart and full life must experience pain. If anything, the practice of yoga has taught me the lesson that challenges are gifts; they are opportunities to recognize one’s true nature - of either the highest or lowest possibilities. According to Joseph Campbell, “Trials and revelations are what it’s all about” (The Power of Myth, p. 155). All beauty in the world can only be recognized in the light of sorrow and loss. It is only through the experience of struggling that we learn to succeed. It is only by fully surrendering to the depths of our hearts that we can reach the greatest heights of our souls.
Ultimately, to me, yoga is a force with specific physical, mental, and spiritual practices designed to cultivate a personal, universal power to unify and transform. The physical practices build strength and flexibility in the gross, physical body as well as in the mind and heart. The mental practices sharpen, increase, and deepen awareness of the internal and external worlds. The spiritual practices open the heart to receive and give love freely, without reserve or grasping. Because yoga cultivates strength in our bodies, our hearts, our spirits, and our minds, we gain awareness of our own power and potential. Yoda, Spiderman, the Bible, and my yoga practice have all taught me that with great power comes great responsibility. To whom much is given, as much as required. If I have been given a life to live, I am required to live that life with all of the love and strength I have to offer.