Weight loss and physical beauty have become an obsession in Western society. It reminds me of a time a few years back, where in my daughter's grade 7 class, a little girl dreamed about reaching her 18th birthday. At the age of 12 yrs, this little girl was already celebrating the new breast implants she'd have surgically placed in her body.
Maybe this is a lower brain, preprogrammed state as we approach teenage years, to ensure procreation and continuity of the species. One must attract a mate whether it is through birdsong, a beautiful array of peacock feathers, or a huge set of antlers on the biggest male. However, one eventually matures and becomes less thoughtful of his/her role in procreation, and yet continues to anguish over the physical condition and acceptability of our bodies to the rest of society. The magnitude and beauty of the real self, doesn't seem to recognized in the individual, or in society.
How do we come to realize the self?
Patanjali, the author of the original Yoga Sutra's, shares the philosophy and religion of ancient India, offering a step by step system which describes how to stop the judgment and crazy thoughts of the mind, ultimately leading us to recognize and love the true self.
Through teacher training all yoga instructors learn Patanjali's Yoga Sutra's, and learn through the sutra's that continual practice can to self realization.
Patanjali would say that all anguish comes from the mind (mind stuff). But as you have experienced in Shvasana or in even a 5-10minute meditation, you are not the mind. The mind constantly fires out thoughts in quick succession. You'll notice the mind going off on tangents, musings, desiring, judging, dreaming, fantasizing, and they keep coming, random and persistent. Immediately a realization occurs.
"If I am able to watch this body, and watch these thoughts as they occur in the mind, then who is the watcher?"
You are not the body, you are not the mind and you can watch almost as a third person from the perspective of you, the self. Pantanjali might say that the mind and body are temporary vehicles, but that the essence of you, your self, never ages.
Have you ever marveled at the fact, that you have come to be (your age), and yet you still feel that you could easily be twenty one? Who is the self that is still twenty one years old?
Although we don't tune into it often, the self is a small portion of the same spark, or life force, that animates the entire universe. The same spark that has brought your vehicles (body, mind) to life has brought every other person, dog, cat, tree and blade of grass to life, as well.
Patanjali's Yoga Sutra's describe how to quiet down and eventually rid oneself completely of the turmoil of the mind. It teaches how to live from this place called Self, and as a result to feel the bliss of tranquility.
Instead of feeling unworthy, allowing the thoughts to wreak havoc you might realize through yoga, the divinity within, feeling peace, wholeness and harmony. It requires fine tuning your awareness and your observation.
Asana (the physical practice of yoga) is one of the ways to liberation, says Patanjali. Practicing yoga, especially Ashtanga yoga, may burn extra calories as it has a more vigorous flow. But any yoga, will over time, bring you to that place of awareness where you finally feel in your heart that the individual self and the Universal Self are one in the same, thereby recognizing and feeling the energy of your eternal beauty.
Yoga invites you to explore the idea of our size, weight and physical beauty in light of these possibilities by observing patience, compassion and love towards the self, and toward others.
Copyright ? 2010
Heather Johnston is a Registered Dental Hygienist and a Certified Yoga Instructor based in Cambridge, Ontario Canada. She enjoys all aspects of health, is fascinated with anatomy and evolution, and is always looking for ways to strengthen the body and mind. Visit Heather at YogaRestores.com YogaRestores.com.
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