Is embodying yoga even yoga?
Embrace your ordinariness on the way to freedom.
In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali presents a compelling argument that all our problems arise from our inability to see ourselves fully and accurately. He says we are confused. Patanjali wisely asserts that we give way too much credence to our personal self-definitions, thoughts, and feelings.
Patanjali points out that there is no end to suffering when we only experience our individuality at the expense of a more unified universal vision of life. A unified vision takes the onus off our addictive self-referential thinking and frees us for a much more comfortable and enjoyable life.
Of course, we agree with Patanjali. The only question becomes how do we do this. In Embodyoga we choose the route of acceptance and incorporation of the personal as successful means for enlarging our vision.
In contemporary yoga culture, one of the ways we commonly try to free ourselves from our perceived "limitations" is by figuring out how to improve ourselves. We try to eliminate traits that we don't like. We try to be better in some way.
In Embodyoga we are not trying to eliminate anything. In fact we celebrate the diversity of form. We are not even so concerned with improving ourselves. We are much more interested in seeing and accepting life as it actually is. (Without inferring non-action, of course.)
Embodying yoga is about entering and embracing the fullness of our humanity without resistance.
Here’s how we do it.
Step 1
We get it that we are alive and in bodies, that we are individuals with unique qualities and traits, we have lives and relationships. In other words we are human. We postulate that the only way to see who we are on all levels is to begin to accept who we are on all levels. Trying to be different than we are just wastes a lot of time and limits our ability to see any of life's larger context.
Step 2
Accepting the personal as simply the personal — without clinging or resistance — we are free to dive through our surface consciousness (all of our self-definitions) and into the realm of the universal. We practice. We pay attention. We learn to see ourselves, our lives, our situations and the state of the world as they actually are, not how we wish they would be. In so doing, we are magically released from the domination of a self-obsessed mind.
Step 3
Deep acceptance of our role in the larger picture reveals a broader and more inclusive vision. Larger vision supports inner comfort — even love. We learn, we soften, and as we do we spontaneously gain the ability to act in the world from a place of clarity and strength.
Contented in our ordinariness, we can finally relax.
Firstly, I feel myself nodding in agreement, Patty, as I read about the Embodyoga approach with my morning coffee.
Secondly, Krishnamurti; I’m a big fan; he never minces his words and as patient and considered as he can be, I quite like it when he seems to get frustrated with a question! And, I admire how he shunned the whole “guru” circus while still holding talks and conversations with many questioners - this must have been, I imagine, an uncomfortable paradox to live.
Thirdly, what came up in a strong way while reading is my sense that as yoga became co-opted by the “wellness industry” the philosophical self-enquiry has become either diluted, removed, or dressed-up in the sales package. Essentially, yoga (samkhya) philosophy for me is not about “wellness” or self-improvement as we might understand it in Western cultures, it’s about this question that doesn’t have a concrete answer only perhaps an inferred feeling of knowing.
Of course, the practices make me feel good in body and mind, and that’s great, and it’s also not the point. For me, the deep embodiment enquiry that I feel you are pointing to leads ultimately to the big, quiet question of who or what is experiencing embodiment. And, i found so much support for this enquiry in Bonnie and Linda’s work (also Janet Adler) that I was not finding when I was ready for it in the yoga-world that I inhabited. It’s wonderful that your participants can practice and enquire within the kind of space you are holding.
Thanks again for some juicy food for thought!
X
Yes, I’m loving that we’ve bumped into each other in Substack! So much to dwell on in your thoughts. I am wondering, in the first instance, if there might not be a catch in responding to the patriarchy with matriarchy? The zeitgeist is asking us, i feel, to think beyond the binary and imagine something different. I’m not at all sure what that is but I am hopeful! 🙏