THE YAMAS The Beginning DAY 1
“He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.” —Sir Francis Bacon
This quote by Sir Francis Bacon highlights the importance of adapting to change. It reminds us that progress requires a willingness to embrace new ideas, methods, and ideologies in dealing with challenges. Those who resist change often find themselves struggling in various ways.
We all know what that resistance feels like—paddling upstream. Yet, at times, we refuse to accept the changes happening around or within us, afraid to embrace new ideas or situations. So, we paddle even harder against the current, falsely believing we’re making progress. But ultimately, we learn: Change is hard. It’s scary. It often stirs up the muck from the depths of our souls and consciousness. What I’ve learned through yoga and other practices is that we are meant to disturb that sediment—whether we realize it or not. And when we can no longer see clearly through the cloudy water, we wonder what to do to regain clarity. We question how we got into the muck in the first place.
I resonate with the reflections in Meditations on Day One. To paraphrase: “Our hunger for yoga and our eagerness to embrace it as a spiritual practice speak to our growth and desire for change. We need a new paradigm, one that replaces our attachment to imbalance. Yoga is the study of balance, and balance is the aim of all living creatures—it is our home.”
During TT back in 2012, I highlighted that last sentence. I can’t say for sure why I did it then, except that I recognized its profundity. To find balance in our daily lives is the gift of yoga—or at least, what yoga has taught me. Without yoga, I’d still be sweating the small stuff, tossed like a leaf in the wind, unanchored and blown wherever life took me. Yoga has taught me, and continues to teach me, that balance is our greatest teacher. One of its lessons is how we’re thrown off balance and how we find our way back to center.
As I reflect on Day One, I see how it connects to the present day. The paradigm shift from imbalance to balance is evident in so many ways. Our political climate promotes divisiveness—us vs. them. There are the “haves” and the “have-nots.” Even in the spiritual realm, there’s division. Some speak of New Earth and Ascension in a way that emphasizes unity and oneness, while others frame it in limiting, fear-based terms—dogma that claims only those who follow their rules will reach higher planes of consciousness, while others are simply wrong, evil, or crazy.
Right or wrong, good or bad—whether or not you believe in the more esoteric aspects of life—we are, according to astrology, in the Age of Aquarius. This shift moves us from the 3D, ego-based density to a 5D spiritual consciousness. The sci-fi geek in me gets excited about this, not just because I believe it’s happening (I do), but because it makes me wonder if the band The 5th Dimension were aliens sent here in the ’60s to write “The Age of Aquarius,” a song that would turn out to be completely relevant to our time. I know, it’s a bit out there, but I’m probably not the first person to think this. Even as I type this, I’m aware of the division in how we view aliens—some see them as scary creatures intent on harm, while others believe they could teach us about ourselves, our planet, and our origins.
To me, yoga offers a universal connection, not only within ourselves but outwardly toward others—and even beyond that, to however we choose to define G-d, Universe, Source. I like “GUS” to describe that universal energy. After all, Gus-Gus is one of my favorite mice in Cinderella—such a cute little pudge ball.
But I digress, as I know I do from time to time. The point I’m getting to is that, for many of us, structure is needed to make any kind of shift. To believe in the unseen, or ideas we have yet to understand, we need a plan. Meditations offers that roadmap to understanding. Gates describes the Yoga Sutras as “the essence of all spiritual practices condensed into a basic plan for living.” To me, the Sutras are variations on a universal theme present in any organized structure of religion: a guide to living righteously and harmoniously with others. And yet, yoga is not a religion, though it’s often mistaken for one, with some religions discouraging or even banning their followers from practicing yoga. More on that in another blog.
To circle back to why I’m writing these entries: One of my goals for my website and everything I do is to connect dots. Whether I’m connecting people to people or subjects to other subjects, I believe that if I find something cool, others might too. And so, within the message of Day One in Meditations, there are some very cool dots to connect. Gates discusses The Fool in Tarot and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz to illustrate how each embarks on a journey only to realize they never needed to go anywhere to feel at home. Home is wherever we are in the present moment, and all we need to learn is already within us.
If you recall my previous blog post and its timing with Rosh Hashanah, there’s a passage read during the High Holidays that mirrors this idea: We don’t need to scale the highest mountains or cross the sea to find G-d. We only need to look within our hearts and ourselves. Gates writes, “A spiritual practice brings us full circle—not to a new self, but back to the essence of our true selves. Yoga is the practice of celebrating what is.” During these uncertain, unsettling times, I find it comforting to see so many connections between different modalities, beliefs, and teachings, whether religious or otherwise.
Indeed, “Yoga is a lamp lit in the window of our home, dimly glimpsed across the spiritual wilderness in which we wander. At a time when we could not feel further from our home, yoga reminds us that we are already there. We simply need to awaken from our dream of separation, our dream of imperfection.” For me, yoga deepens my connection to my own religious beliefs and highlights how similar we are to one another. No matter where we come from or to whom we pray, we all breathe. We all have blood, bones, hopes, and dreams. These are the greatest connectors of our dots!
Namaste, and thanks for reading!
Lauri
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