Thoughts on Yoga
Downward Dog and the Whisperer
2006-06-10
We do yoga to get a break from the mind-numbing details of survival. Thoughts about getting, producing, spending, organizing, and fixing threaten to drown out our inner voice and obscure our true noble nature and purpose.
The break that we look forward to at summertime is a break from worry, work and obligation. But we don't need to wait for vacation; we can have it every day.
Have you ever noticed that when you come to yoga class, your body is tight, your mind busy and full, and your breath constricted or shallow? Somewhere during class your body/mind becomes quiet and peaceful. Peace descends and life is sweet again.
To someone who has never experienced yoga, this seems miraculous. To understand how it all works, allow me to intruduce "The Dog Whisperer," Caesar Milan. Perhaps you have seen him on TV. He seems to be everywhere these days.
For those who haven't seen him, this is what he does: He calms, controls and trains even the worst dogs on the planet. Some of these dogs are so bad they are in danger of being euthanized. This is how he does it: He goes into someone's house, watches the dog acting horribly, destructively, even viciously. He asks a few questions and then asks to take the dog on a walk, or he may take it home to meet his own dogs (all 45 of them.) During this time he talks to the dog, he strokes it, he wrestles it to the ground or does some other mysterious stuff. Then he gives the owners a stern lecture about what they did to create the problem dog and how to keep it from happening again. Voila! The formerly bad, scary, unhappy dog is suddenly calm, and everyone is happy and relieved.
Your mind is like the dog; it gets stressed and unhappy so it snarls. It thinks harder and faster until it is a whirlwind of thoughts. Peace, ease and relaxation can't be found anywhere. You keep adding things to your schedule to keep up with your busy mind. You might even drink, eat or spend more than is good for you as you try to find some respite. This state might feel normal to you is is does for many, many people. Our society is set up for us to feel and act this way.
When you do yoga you are being like the "Dog Whisperer," calming and training the dog. You can turn your mind around. You can teach it to be happy, calm and peaceful. To those who don't know yoga it seems impossible. But if you know the techniques, it's no big deal. Experienced yogis do it every day, (and I mean, every day!) After a while, your brain forgets how to be snarly and gets used to being happy, relaxed and contented.
So as summer approaches, remember this: Vacation is a blast. Warm days, beach trips and cookouts are fun. Summer is beautiful in New England. It makes up for winter (kind of!) But for real freedom from work, responsibility and worry-do yoga now, stick with it forever and never quit! Then you will be blissed out even when the snow comes back and piles up as high as your #@*!!