Live for the Present and Know Yourself Well
From childhood to death, we must be in practice and have faith. In our reading this week from Tree of Yoga, BKS Iyengar gives us anecdotes from his own stages of life and yoga, focusing on aspects of yoga practice that we also might be self reflective about. Yoga practice can be the steady support to every stage of life. It may not always be what we “want”, but it will always be there for our benefit, so we must stay aware and open to what it presents to us.
Connection to the present moment is integral to our life in yoga – on and off the mat. Children are present just to experience and learn. “A child’s mind is in the present and does not go to the past or the future.” This is our gift from the life-stage of childhood. Most of us have come to yoga as adults, so we have a developed ego that children do not have. Our practice begins at a time when we want to “do something” and “accomplish something” through yoga, and we may become attached to a certain outcome. This unfortunately leads many into frustration and/or comparison from past abilities into future expectations. Many times I try to encourage adults in my classes to take on the memory of that gift of child-like wonder that yoga can inspire – to take what is given in any practice, and to meet ourselves where we are at any moment despite certain obstacles. The present is where we see clearly what is in front of us, not in comparison to what used to be or with a want for something that is yet to be.
Yoga’s first two limbs – the yamas and niyamas – remind us of the values and behaviors that support a meaningful life, and can help us to stay on the path of practice consciously and consistently. In “Love and Marriage”, BKS Iyengar highlights the more controversial topic of brahmacarya – celibacy, self control, and chastity – within our yoga practice. Brahmacarya is one of the Yamas, the foundational moral precepts of yoga, however many ancient and modern yogi’s, including BKS Iyengar, were themselves family people with children. So, this yama of brahmacarya must mean so much more than just sexual celibacy. In every practice, we can understand it as a self-discipline that sustains and controls energy on every level, keeping us away from lust, greed, gluttony, and many other manner of energy-sapping activities. Imbalance and misuse of any energy in life and practice can be at the very least distracting on our individual level, steering us away from focus on self-improvement, but potentially devastating to our relationships with family and community.
Our practice of yoga must become part of our life since we cannot live entirely on a sticky mat nor can we shut ourselves entirely away from others. True “practice” in yoga, abhyasa, is “long, uninterrupted, and disciplined” (Yoga Sutra I.14). This uninterrupted nature of practice is also the nature of the everyday mundanity of our lives. Remaining present in each moment of life builds sensitivity towards and understanding of ourselves over time in relation to the world around us. Those relationships with husbands, kids, moms, dads, friends and foes help us recognize our own strengths and limitations, in turn strengthening all layers of self knowledge.
Time is irrelevant to yoga. Only the present moment matters. This chronology of the 4 stages of life just reminds us that we all live in bodies that are ever changing, moving toward death. We will not be able to practice today as we practiced when we first began yoga, and we have to recognize that in 20 more years our practice will look even more different. We cannot mourn the past practice nor predict the future one. To avoid the regret of any part of a life and to avoid fear of our inevitable death we must look intently on the present. Yoga practice encourages us to live fully in the moment. It does not matter what we think death may bring, it is just important to sow the seeds of the tree you wish to grow right now.
But, what keeps us persistent in this practice of yoga and in life? How do we know if we are on the “right path”, sowing the right seeds? How do we face all the challenges and changes that practice and life throw at us? All of these questions rest on a foundation of faith. BKS Iyengar distinguishes between faith and belief. We all believe things that may or may not be true – “I’m too old” (by what standard?), “I can’t do that” (before even trying), “I have to know what happens when I die” (while you are still living) – are all objective. When we experience something first hand, expectedly or unexpectedly, that becomes the subjectivity of faith. According to BKS Iyengar, to be merely living is to possess faith – in God, yourself, or some other Divinity of creation – and to live is to be in the mystery of “WHY?”. “WHY” we live or practice yoga is the great question to answer through any practice of faith. Do you know your “WHY”?
I hope you continue to self reflect on the ideas presented in Tree of Yoga through the lens of the present moment, getting to know yourself well, and having faith in the process.
We will continue this week in reading “Effort, Awareness and Joy” through “The Branches”.
