I grew up immersed in nature. From a young age I was concerned about humans’ abusive and consumptive relationship with the natural world. In my twenties, I served nonprofit organizations that worked on issues I thought were important: water and land conservation, education. After awhile, I noticed that although I was working hard on beneficial things, I was simultaneously experiencing high levels of stress that showed up as symptoms in my body.
Have you noticed how easy it is to generate conflict within ourselves and with others, even when we intend to do good?
Every war has been fought for peace. - Gurudev Shri Amritji
Now, I feel acutely the state of our world: the mass extinction of myriad life forms, our compulsion to ignore, deny, and lash out. I see us caught in cycles of “problem solving” that create more problems as they proffer solutions. I observe this collectively, as well as in my own life. What is it about human nature that prompts us to perpetuate suffering?
Yoga is a system that examines human consciousness and poses the possibility of alleviating self-caused suffering. These teachings resonate with me so deeply because I want REAL solutions that address the root issue from which all other problems arise.
Yoga and Ayurveda reach back thousands of years as intact systems of knowledge and practice. They contain lucid, straightforward explanations for the most meaningful problems we face. I trust these teachings to guide my explorations because they withstand the test of time, and they consistently demonstrate themselves to be true in my personal experiments within the context of my own life…as long as I understand and apply the principles correctly.
So what is the real problem with being human, and what is the solution?
We say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The same is true with problems. The problem is in the eye of the perceiver. - Gurudev Shri Amritji
Yoga clearly lists the source field of all types of human misery as avidya, often translated as ignorance. Sanskrit is a profound and powerful language with multiple dimensions of meaning. “Avidya” can mean “not knowing,” or not seeing. It implies going against what exists.
Our afflictions can be traced back to not knowing who we truly are.
It is from this root that all other suffering sprouts. This mistake of identity causes separation and disconnection. When we conjure changes outside by getting ourselves or others to conform to rules without doing the inner work to heal the rift within ourselves, at best, we have reformation. We might make the appearance of change, but the source problem does not go away; it simply takes another form.
Yoga is integration, connection. Yoga asks us to turn towards, to trace our pain back to its origin, to find our way by feeling in the dark to the very core of our own existence.
Here, stripped of countless layers of distraction and defense, we experience Being. We may feel it more than seeing it, like the subtle sensation of daylight seeping into a room where you have been sleeping.
There are many ways to reach into the core of ourselves, including some that may seem accidental; others, quite brutal. My theory is that life itself is a process of evolution that ultimately compels us toward this exploration. Yet the routes can be circuitous, defying all logic, and the timeframe is something approaching eternity. So we’re not likely to understand this journey with our mind.
Yoga helps not by giving us all the answers, but by providing us with the right tools for our journey, helping us to know what to look for, and to understand where we are going. These teachings are a map, and our life is the territory. We are explorers, adventurers in consciousness!
Yoga works from a paradigm of response-ability and self-empowerment, recognizing that we are co-creators with life. We have the ability to respond (response-ability) to what happens, and through this response-ability we can effect change. By learning the workings of our body, mind, and consciousness, we can actively participate in the process of transformation.
When we change from our core, transformation radiates into the world. This is what is means to “be the change you want to see in the world.” In order to reach transformation, we have to see differently. We must shift our perspective, what we believe about our selves, others, and the world. How do we accomplish this?
Gurudev would say that we must learn how to shift from conflict-creating, reactive interaction to co-creative harmonious interplay with who or what is present.
The practice of yoga is all about how to make this shift.
Start by noticing. Paying attention is turning toward. Turning toward is how we find our way back to the root.
