Thoughts on Yoga

Human beings don't want to suffer.  We want to move to the pleasurable and away from the painful.  This deep drive controls most of our thoughts and actions in life.

The nature of the material world is dense, heavy, solid and slow to change.  Compare this with the immaterial quality of your thoughts, which are lightning quick and limited only by your imagination.

Between these two dimensions we experience a lot of pain.  Through immaterial thought we can imagine how we want to feel, what we want to see, what we hope will show up in our lives. 

The material world is one of waiting and delays and difficulties.  There are an infinite number of things in the material plane that we can't control.  It usually takes a long time between an inital thought of a desire to a firm intention to full-blown material manifestation.  In between we have to contend with factors we can't control or understand.  Sometimes these factors slow down the arrival of our desires, sometimes these factors are too great and desire is thwarted altogether.

When strong desire is thwarted we suffer.  Our ego is attached to outcomes we can't control.  At those times, not getting what we want feels personal.  Suffering happens when our expectation, rigidity and desire to control come into contact with the World--which is unpredictable, often painful, and completely uncontrollable. 

Like the Serenity Prayer says:  "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."

This prayer may sound simple, but to anyone who has actually tried to live by it, it's the hardest thing in the world. 

Thousands of years ago, wise sages and yogis put themselves to the task of finding a way to live without suffering.  Can we function in the material plane with full understanding of our immaterial nature?  Can we be at peace with the conflict between the speed of thought/desire and the slowness of its arrival in our material circumstances? 

In answering these and other questions, ancient yogis developed body/mind techniqes and a deep profound philosophy that help us untie the knots that keep us suffering.  Their findings and methods have been passed down to us as "yoga." 

When you come to class, you learn to control your body, quiet your mind, master your breath and direct your life force energy.  You discover the place in yourself that is infinitely wise and peaceful. 

Yoga gives serenity, courage and wisdom to those who practice it.  It helps us to stay calm in all situations, to be persistent and single-minded when necessary, and brings detachment not from desire, but from the specific outcomes we can't control.

Sincere practice  can reduce suffering by sowing the seeds for current and future happiness.