The Value of Yoga in everyday life; is in the ability to challenge the old ways. Those ways that turn away from life’s abundance instead, pulling energy and consciousness downwards. Accustomed to seeking out dullness, fear and delusion, masking & swallowing moments of pain become habit. Qualities that are a result of complex social, environmental & family conditioning.
The old ways stick, held within the body & mind as confusion & judgement. Which prefers to react as a way to protect the untrained mind & ego which does not recognise the intelligent universe that is both within – prakriti & outside – purusha of the human self.
Yoga is not asana. It is an entire philosophy that serves to liberate – Moksha , away from the ways that create bondage through illusion – bandha. The value of Yoga is in its wholeness, it is – Equanimity; an opportunity to be with life as it is, and not wish for the experience to be something different.
As life brings joy & excitement, twists, turns & challenges, often there is a desire to change the experience to something other than it is, or, hold on to it. Such reactions are fired by the judgement pendulum of success or failure.
In judgement there is a risk of cementing tension, attachment & superficial thinking to the layers of the body mind complex – koshas. Which then play out in life as outdated, inappropriate & dull states of mind, the need or belief that happiness can be controlled by “things” outside of your SELF, also contribute to stress, tension & dis-ease.
Without awareness or connection to the mysteries of (prakriti – purusha) the whole of life feels as though it is governed by force, effort, reaction & dullness. Riding the swings of success & failure and all the suffering in between.
Yoga when practiced with a gentle awareness will encourage observation of the internal universe & governing life force (Brahman). Asana accessed in a composed united & relaxed way opens into a practice engaged in effortless effort. Guided by the mysterious depths of Brahman Yoga can melt tension, it will not add to it. It will build life force –prana and reveal the wisdom to use it as an instrument of creativity guided by love, as we live this precious life.
Yoga and the limb of Hatha Yoga, are one of many yoga tools for carving out equanimity – to stay in the experience & not move into judgement. Over time with peace & dedication, we learn to get out of our own way, allowing space for a fluid response to the challenge of life as the transition between yoga & day-to-day living in twines; and life becomes yoga
