Thoughts on Yoga
Fortune Cookie Wisdom
2007-10-09
I want to share with you the best Chinese Fortune I have ever received. It goes like this: "Avoid Compulsively Making Things Worse."
I laughed out loud when I first read it. I was expecting something like "Your Friends Look Up to You." How did I end up with "Avoid Compulsively Making Things Worse?"
That short phrase just about sums up all of yoga philosophy. Yoga begins with the understanding that life is full of struggle and difficulty. A yogi's goal is to act in ways that minimize the pain of any situation. Yoga techniques focus on training the mind because thoughts, beliefs and feelings determine our future actions and happiness.
For example, if you believe that life could and should conform to your wishes you will suffer a great deal more than necessary. When trials come my way, I can sense a definite moment when I am choosing what to tell myself about the situation. It's helpful when I can remember that problems are a major feature of life; I choose whether to personalize them or not. When I'm not shocked or offended I recover my equilibrium much more quickly.
By studying and practicing yoga one learns how to make oneself happy from the inside out. That happiness transcends the inevitable losses each of us must endure.
One criticism of yoga is that it encourages passivity. I disagree. We have the capacity to influence our environment by our actions. And taking action to make things better is one of the primary ways we can learn and grow. I'm simply suggesting that we should give at least as much attention to our inner environment as we do to the outer one.
The first step is to gain hold of the mind. Practicing yoga and meditation is the best way to slow down your thoughts so you can really hear yourself think. From there you can be truly creative as you cultivate helpful thoughts and let go of those beliefs that are compulsively making things worse.