During a conversation with a friend the other day, we ran across a topic which i know is familiar to many yoga practitioners and teachers. I'll call it the 'Myth of Mastery'.
For a teacher, it goes something like this:
"What the hell am I doing trying to teach this stuff - I'm not ENLIGHTENED! I can't even meditate in [choose your favorite difficult posture]!"
Some of us will even use this negative self talk to sabotage the avenues in our lives where we might be of service to others - because we are not "masters" yet - whatever that means.
For the student, this often occurs when we are thinking of trying something new. Many people never make it through the door for yoga or meditation class because they are afraid simply to be beginners.
For myself, it can be easy sometimes to lose faith. I think that perhaps it is because I see how high the bar has been set, and sometimes I despair of getting there. I know of some yogis how feel just fine, perfectly comfortable in their practice - and I rejoice for them. But I wonder, if you are perfectly comfortable in your practice, are you really growing into the places that you need it the most?
Many of us who come to yoga, kung fu, or the like, have an innate strength or calling toward the kinesthetic body-based activity and growth. Others of us, who gravitate toward meditation have an innate spiritual sense. Your strong suit is not really what I am speaking to in this article, i am speaking to your weak link.
If you are sensitive, you'll know right where your weak link is. Many yogis i know could answer you in a split-second if you asked them what the weakest spot is in their practice. What an amazing self-knowledge to hold.
If you've never done the work, however, you won't know what I'm talking about, because your weak link is just that thing that you avoid. It's something we avoid before we even think about it - as if part of the mind has pre-decided "that's not me".
It seems to me that the Myth of Mastery can rear its head in two ways. One is that we begin to actually think we've become a master. I think this can mean that we've settled into the places we feel strong to the exclusion of those in which we feel weaker. I hold a "Master's" certification in Qigong, but it doesn't mean I've stopped learning. The moment I think I know everything there is to know about something is the moment my knowledge starts getting stagnant. The greatest spiritual sages have never made high claims about their own "mastery" - they simply went about loving their world, living balanced lives. I think our own practices can flow this way if we let them.
The second way it strikes is the recurring thought that tells us to "quit now", because mastery is so far away. This can come up if your meditation is a little to thought-full for a few days, or your yoga practice doesn't seem to be changing. Rather than see these as signs that something is wrong, we can learn to look at them as signs that we are growing!
I'm making it a practice to go looking for the places where I let this myth stop me from serving others, and stop me from growing myself. It means tuning in to that place that feels wobbly or nervous, and learning to just be with that feeling - understanding that it means I'm learning something new!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Grace
Every so often, in yoga or in life, we get a glimpse of something bigger. I remember when I was first learning the art of Tai Chi I had an extremely memorable practice session that influenced my practice for years to come. As I carried out my form, i was somehow finally able to just let go and sort of "drop-in". As I did this, I began to have the vivid experience of everything - the world around me, the movement of my hands, my breathing - being BEAUTIFUL. It's hard to describe, but it felt a little like some of my friend's descriptions of good drug trips (sadly - or maybe fortunately - my own drug experiences were never that cool).
This experience, like many that were to follow, became a sort of landmarks that I could source back to when I practiced - and occasionally, i was able to "drop in" to that space again. Ken Wilber describes this as the relationship of "States and Stages" - meaning that we can get into certain altered states sort of by accident of consciousness, and then eventually learn to create them at will until we reach a certain stage of development. We can use the gifts that come to us in yoga or any other practice to help us learn to live in that expanded sphere at all times.
The question that really interests me though is this: Are the moments of Grace truly "accidental", or is there something deeper going on?
Many people have had the experience of Grace come to them in the form of an insight. Perhaps it is at the end of a great yoga practice, or during meditation. You're just sitting there and it's like a little bubble pops and all the answers you needed flood into your awareness. It seems to me that if there was a way to reproduce this experience consistently, we could create a great deal of happiness in our own lives and the lives of others.
Fortunately, as usual, the ancient yogis offer us a possible explanation. Master Patanjali, in the Yoga Sutra, explains how the world we see is actually projected, or activated by deep habitual tendencies in our minds (Samkaras). These mental tendencies are created out of our karma - or the force of habit from our actions or thoughts.
Why should this concern us? Simply this: if we gain the habits of consciousness it takes to experience Grace, then we can experience it more and more regularly.
How then do we go about getting the mind to have this habit? In my experience, the answer is two-fold. In both halves of the answer, the main principle is something like "acting as if it were already so" or, as Gandhi says "Be the change that you want to see in the [inner and outer] world".
The first way we do this is outwardly. We learn to act toward ourselves and others as if our lives were already informed by Grace on a deep level. This has been laid out in ancient times as the Yamas and Niyamas of Yoga. A person informed by grace would refrain from harming others (ahimsa), refrain from stealing (astreya), refrain from sexual misconduct (brahmacharya) and the like. They would also cultivate cleanliness (saucha), feel content (santosha), live with a sense of devotion (Isvarapranidana), etc.
If you want more Grace in your yoga, you have to do more than just think the Yamas and Niyamas are cool (although that's a great start!). You have to make a plan to actively make this a reality in your life - especially in your interactions with others. Go out and decide every day to not only avoid harm but to do at least 3 things that ACTIVELY HELP someone in need. Decide not only to manifest grace by respecting the relationships of others, but do something to DEEPLY HONOUR your own intimate partner (or help someone else do it if you are not in a relationship. Find your own ways to make each of the Yamas and Niyamas a dynamic and dramatic refuge in each day. Done with vigor and excitement, the active practice of these yogic principles brings a massive flood of Grace into one's practice very quickly.
The other half of the story is what to do inwardly. I see this as the other 6 limbs of yoga. The practice of inner yoga was designed to completely alter your inner world to make more love and happiness possible. When master Patanjali describes asana as "steady and easy" - it can mean that if we want Grace to flow, we should set up our body as if it were already there. Enter your yoga poses like a god or goddess - and even make the dinner like a King or Queen performing a special gift of kindness.
Pranayama means to un-restrict the inner energy and breath. What would it be like to breathe from a deep sense of peace and insight - like the sense you have felt if you've ever experienced Grace in your practice?
The remaining limbs relate to one's mind - here is where our yoga practice can become truly productive of deep peace. When we realize that Grace comes not by accident, but by deeper causes than we ever thought, we can let go of much of the worry and striving that the mind habitually clings to.
In the ancient texts, this is referred to by describing how ignorance is the root of craving and aversion. If we can cut the root of ignorance - in this case, thinking we can get to Grace by becoming busier or worrying more - then we can drop off a great deal of needless mental anguish.
The mind of a person inhabiting Grace is one that is still and quiet. The thoughts are clear and directive - but one cannot easily tell whether one is "thinking" them, or "receiving" them from some source of wisdom. This being simply carries out the causes of Grace - being the change they wish to see - and rests deeply in the beautiful appearance which unfolds.
This experience, like many that were to follow, became a sort of landmarks that I could source back to when I practiced - and occasionally, i was able to "drop in" to that space again. Ken Wilber describes this as the relationship of "States and Stages" - meaning that we can get into certain altered states sort of by accident of consciousness, and then eventually learn to create them at will until we reach a certain stage of development. We can use the gifts that come to us in yoga or any other practice to help us learn to live in that expanded sphere at all times.
The question that really interests me though is this: Are the moments of Grace truly "accidental", or is there something deeper going on?
Many people have had the experience of Grace come to them in the form of an insight. Perhaps it is at the end of a great yoga practice, or during meditation. You're just sitting there and it's like a little bubble pops and all the answers you needed flood into your awareness. It seems to me that if there was a way to reproduce this experience consistently, we could create a great deal of happiness in our own lives and the lives of others.
Fortunately, as usual, the ancient yogis offer us a possible explanation. Master Patanjali, in the Yoga Sutra, explains how the world we see is actually projected, or activated by deep habitual tendencies in our minds (Samkaras). These mental tendencies are created out of our karma - or the force of habit from our actions or thoughts.
Why should this concern us? Simply this: if we gain the habits of consciousness it takes to experience Grace, then we can experience it more and more regularly.
How then do we go about getting the mind to have this habit? In my experience, the answer is two-fold. In both halves of the answer, the main principle is something like "acting as if it were already so" or, as Gandhi says "Be the change that you want to see in the [inner and outer] world".
The first way we do this is outwardly. We learn to act toward ourselves and others as if our lives were already informed by Grace on a deep level. This has been laid out in ancient times as the Yamas and Niyamas of Yoga. A person informed by grace would refrain from harming others (ahimsa), refrain from stealing (astreya), refrain from sexual misconduct (brahmacharya) and the like. They would also cultivate cleanliness (saucha), feel content (santosha), live with a sense of devotion (Isvarapranidana), etc.
If you want more Grace in your yoga, you have to do more than just think the Yamas and Niyamas are cool (although that's a great start!). You have to make a plan to actively make this a reality in your life - especially in your interactions with others. Go out and decide every day to not only avoid harm but to do at least 3 things that ACTIVELY HELP someone in need. Decide not only to manifest grace by respecting the relationships of others, but do something to DEEPLY HONOUR your own intimate partner (or help someone else do it if you are not in a relationship. Find your own ways to make each of the Yamas and Niyamas a dynamic and dramatic refuge in each day. Done with vigor and excitement, the active practice of these yogic principles brings a massive flood of Grace into one's practice very quickly.
The other half of the story is what to do inwardly. I see this as the other 6 limbs of yoga. The practice of inner yoga was designed to completely alter your inner world to make more love and happiness possible. When master Patanjali describes asana as "steady and easy" - it can mean that if we want Grace to flow, we should set up our body as if it were already there. Enter your yoga poses like a god or goddess - and even make the dinner like a King or Queen performing a special gift of kindness.
Pranayama means to un-restrict the inner energy and breath. What would it be like to breathe from a deep sense of peace and insight - like the sense you have felt if you've ever experienced Grace in your practice?
The remaining limbs relate to one's mind - here is where our yoga practice can become truly productive of deep peace. When we realize that Grace comes not by accident, but by deeper causes than we ever thought, we can let go of much of the worry and striving that the mind habitually clings to.
In the ancient texts, this is referred to by describing how ignorance is the root of craving and aversion. If we can cut the root of ignorance - in this case, thinking we can get to Grace by becoming busier or worrying more - then we can drop off a great deal of needless mental anguish.
The mind of a person inhabiting Grace is one that is still and quiet. The thoughts are clear and directive - but one cannot easily tell whether one is "thinking" them, or "receiving" them from some source of wisdom. This being simply carries out the causes of Grace - being the change they wish to see - and rests deeply in the beautiful appearance which unfolds.
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