LIFE WILL SMASH THE ORNAMENTS YOU MAKE FROM YOUR EXPERIENCES. BETTER YOU LEARN TO PUT THEM ON A SHELF.
Saturday, 21 December 2019Life experiences are made into ornaments.. .. things that we glorify and hold on to.. things that we attach to for self esteem and identity.
As a teacher of yoga is it my responsibility to smash the ornaments.. or is the class room a place where students learn to put the ornament on the shelf, and, on occasion, when they observe themselves polishing it, to have a jolly good laugh and to smile with compassion?
Personally, I believe it is my responsibility to facilitate a space where students come to re-cognise themselves – to learn to reflect on their actions and the outcomes of the actions. My students though, I suspect feel that sometimes I smash their ornaments, or at least shake the shelf upon which they rest. Some cry with relief and others in grief as they have invested years of their lives in beliefs that ultimately are stories, that they told themselves about who they must be to be loved.
It is an ethical issue for me, that I understand the role of teacher and student.
It is always good to remind ourselves that when we attend classes, we are not paying for Yoga, because Yoga Is.. Yoga is not a commodity. Payment for classes covers the cost of having someone who has walked the path of practice for a long time, available to share what they have learnt. A teacher of yoga, teaches the practices of Abhyasa and Vairagya: Discipline and Renunciation. These practices develop clarity of perception. Over time practice equips the body/mind/breath instrument such that it is an instrument capable of meditation. Stillness of mind is how we open the path to walk in the power of our own presence. Practice gives us the opportunity to steady the mind upon an object; to then evidence the condition or state of mind; then practice becomes an instrument we use to pause or silence the mind. As the mind, as we know it, witnesses the pause between the rise and fall of thoughts it, the small self mind learns its greatness: the vast intangible reservoir of unimaginable beauty that is Life.
I sit within the Iyengar tradition and practice Raja yoga.. the Royal path: twining of head (Jnana/intention), heart (Bhakti/devotion) and hand (Karma/action/service). Practice teaches that a huge obstacle to peace and living a meaningful life is that I/we make experiences into ornaments.
Once we learn to stop just polishing our ornaments, practice becomes an instrument for transformation. The mind arrives into a state of "pause". The postures function to change the chemistry of the body and the nervous systems, making experience conducive to meditation. As we step our toe into this process, practice functions as an instrument: we go to our mat because we practice encountering ourselves within situations (asana); we study ourselves in these situations and develop skills that help us get clear. Practice teaches us how to put down the 'ornaments' (experiences that prop up the ego). If we don't have a practice - a process of putting down the ornaments that we have made out of our experiences - life will most certainly throw them to the ground where they smash into a thousand pieces. We are not who we think we are and life will keep asking that we learn this lesson. Life can only be lived in moment.. each moment what is asked of us, can we engage clearly; can we act rather than re-act? We are being asked to feel, to become present at increasing levels of subtlety.
Mind is trained through practice to function as dharmendriya.. we practice to locate ourselves in the here and now of life. To become present. In this way mind functions as a sense organ. Just as the nose smells, and the ears hear, mind locates.. to locate ourselves in the embodiment, in each moment of experience, is to align with peace. We can live with a clear conscience when our actions arise from presence.
There is currently a special offer for people who have attended the school in the last 2 years. This offer allows for the purchase of a 20 class card for $200. (Usually $300) The card is valid until December 11 2021. See special offer.
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