Community Participation
In the last few days I have been really reminded of the community efforts that are necessary here. Indian life is many layered, and RIMYI has so many people from so many places, there is a need for a certain order to the chaos. From multi-generational households sharing spaces, to “regular folk” employing cooks and maids and drivers, to the organization of mom and pop specialty shops for everything under the sun; and, at RIMYI, management of the institute, sharing of information, training teachers, etc…all have a purpose and a place and a need for participation.
Prashant reminds us that yoga is also a “participation culture”. As he has set the understanding of our embodiment being a community of participants, of you and yours, he continues to play out the scenarios where each and every one of those participants serves a purpose. Whether giving or taking in a transaction, or partaking in or parting with something in any social exchange, we all search for a balance in life and in yoga.
If you are an individual greedy for more more more, then likely your partaking in society will sooner or later become unwelcome. And, if you give give give without much in return, you will soon wear out and feel depleted. We must search ourselves in whatever role we may be playing in our life to find the best balance to run smoothly, and we must search all the players within our embodiment in order to come out more transformed in yoga. It can be as simple as reflecting on how you feel before and after any practice, or sooner or later evolving to the place where you may be sensitive to the roles of doing, doer, and done in any position.
India is a culture full of gesturing amongst themselves, but also to bridge language gaps, gesturing becomes a way of communication for all of us. Prashant unfolds this idea also within asanas, as depending on our approach and applications, we may find a breath-gesture, body-gesture, or mind-gesture more dominant or necessary for any certain time or place. Giving to, taking from, or applying to body, mind, or breath in different ways in any asana changes the experience of the same pose entirely.
Think of your roles in life as they change in certain interactions. Sometimes you are the party giver and sometimes you go to the party to enjoy! Sometimes you are the caretaker and sometimes you are the one needing care. Our entire embodiment houses this entire community within it. And, through changing the breath, the mind, or the position to explore ourselves through yoga, we can transform into a complete and healthy, whole society. At least that much we have some control over!
This morning, instead of usual open practice time, we all came together to participate in a class recording of Geeta Iyengar from 2009. What a great experience to have with this community – some of whom have never studied with Geeta at all, and others, like Abhi and Raya (back from his visit to the US), grew up with her as their teacher. It was powerful to hear her voice again and no doubt her energy carried us through a pretty grueling (if I do say so myself) class of many things I struggle with – Garudasana, Ardha Padmottanasana, and Mulabandhasana to name a few. At one point, sweaty and smiling, I looked down at all the legs stretched out from the wall in Dandasana – a community of legs all shades of different skin colors. It is a marvel to me how we get so entrenched in needing to see people that look like us, act like us, speak like us, and live like us! The community of the world is so important in its diversity, so important in the diverse actions and presentations that occur within a lifetime, or across generations, not to mention the variation in basic employment needs. We have to know and trust that we all are just looking to play our part in a way that we feel is best…whether we agree with “the other” or not.
Yoga is such a great practice to explore the community participation within ourselves to hopefully be more accepting to the community outside. The diversity within our own selves is endless and the knowledge we may gain from it is unique and priceless….
As indicated in the photos on this post – you could be the guy working like a tightrope walker on the scaffolding, the veggie and fruit vendor on the lane, the entrepreneur focused on local ingredients to ferment and pickle in your rooftop pop-up kitchen, or a yoga student or teacher or master from India or around the world…without all of that participation, there would be no completeness to the community in which we all live.
