Friday, October 31, 2014

The Yoga Crisis: Is it real? Is it just a step in growth?

The first experience I had naming what I now refer to as a “Yoga Crisis” was with a Savaroopa Yoga Instructor at our 7 Senses Health Center in Fountain Hill Pennsylvania. It was about 2003 sometime (it seems odd that any post 2000 date is beginning to seem long ago, but…). Judy Wolfe was our Svaroopa instructor’s name, and she was mentioning how one of her instructors became inaccessible to her students, and kept plunging into crisis after crisis, and, I thought, “that’s odd, the same thing happened to one of my instructors…Hell, the same thing is happening to me right now…”

Most of us who teach Yoga, jump into it in the United States once we have gotten the Asana down as far as a precise physical movement. What we don’t expect, is that arrival at proficient physical alignment, just spurs the beginning of internal alignment, which has to do with emotion, ego, mind and the connection to spirit. I am reminded of the idea that the practice of Yoga can lead to crisis, when so many say they seek Yoga to relax or help deal with and prevent crises. Crises are not relaxing (just in case you didn't know). Yoga does help to prevent and deal with crisis, ultimately, but, Yoga can cause crises, or, move us along by precipitating learning in this regard.

Crises, can come about by external, non-controllable events and circumstances (like being in a sudden earthquake), by the way we choose to act or react to any circumstance, or, by some combination thereof. For most people, it is a combination, and how our "self" reacts to any happening.

Yoga crises come about when the practice of Yoga collides with self, and the stories we tell ourselves about “who” we are and “how” others are. Note we are always somebody and others are always the way we perceive them to act. See any possible conflict with that? A Yoga practice leads us directly into, backs us into, and slips to us (cleverly on the side) aspects of how we are connected to others and the world, and crises occur when our “self” collides with the “self” of others, and occurrences in the world.

I know this from being pretty bad at sorting it out, and constantly experiencing the dregs of reacting to things. Most of us do, and will continue to do so. It’s only been truly since the white has increased in my beard that I’m able to separate any of this and focus on it at all.

Crises will occur until you learn from them, or, they kill you. That’s what I said. Seems cruel… But not really. Crises reduce, not because bad stuff stops happening, but because we no longer allow it to collide with self, and our participation in happenings becomes that of non-attachment (which should not be confused with apathy or lack of caring). It’s difficult to put your hands on your self, pick your self up, and move your self to the side. Most of us just get to the point of putting our hands on our self and picking our self up. This leads us to examine our self, and ultimately to more and more ego, instead of less and less. If we could just realize that we’re not really that interesting…

The only way to become your true self is to put your self aside. That’s the ultimate purpose of Yoga. Yoga is not something you step aside to do each day or once a week. Ultimately, it becomes who we are if we continue its practice. Now, if you approach and someone rolls their eyes and says, “There goes Mr./Ms. Yoga…” then we are likely still connecting Yoga and its knowledge and practices with our own ego. I might even go so far as to say that you might notice a great Yoga instructor, not by their charisma, but by their lack thereof.

So, is the Yoga Crisis just a step in growth? Well, I promise I’m not being smart, but… Personal growth might be an important part of the journey, but we’re not really getting anywhere until we put that aside as well. Again, personal growth has to do with ego. We can have and share knowledge, but that is a function of the ego. Wisdom, is where we reflect the true nature of the Universe… So guess which one this blog post is?

That’s right. It’s still just ego. You have to get to wisdom, well, not by your “self” or  any one else's…


Namaste!

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