Wednesday 1 October 2014

Yoga in Crisis Management

“I managed to practice today... I was able to do some breathing, simple movements and some chanting as well”, she said.
I listened in awe, deeply moved by what she was saying. You might be wondering why? She had just lost her husband 2 days ago just days before his 40th birthday! And she was able to do her yoga practice? Of course with some help and encouragement from her friends who rallied around.
It is not going to be so easy, we know, but I am confident that she has the strength and resilience to handle everything, now that she has really discovered the strength of her personal practice.
So what are the reasons for dropping our daily yoga practice? We can give so many… and we always find some excuse or the other. But can we start finding excuses to practice every day? Even if we are travelling, even if the house is full of guests, even if we have gone to bed late the previous night, list all the usual excuses…
This is what I have started doing lately. With so much work to do and at any given moment something to be done urgently, it won't work without giving myself a valid excuse to do my practice. It is about creating an inner space that
is free from the daily clutter of work and responsibilities, where I can breathe deeply, stretch slowly and freely, smile within and enjoy every moment of being with myself… or my Self?
Can we start looking forward to our daily practice – whatever it maybe, 30 min or 1 hour, can we find some excuse to get into that space? When practice becomes strong, we can recruit our breath, we can use our inner resources to cope with whatever life throws upon us.
Another friend who lost her 23 year old son sometime ago was narrating to me what had happened on the 10th day after the fatal incident: “It was as if I was slipping down a deep abyss, it was such a powerful current of pain sucking me down into darkness… and something inside of me said “breathe, breathe” I started breathing, held on to it… Just my breath, breathing in and out, only my breath… all that I could do was that and that was the only thing that has really helped me all these months to deal with the intensity of the pain.”
How simple yet powerful, but this is impossible in a crisis situation if our practice is not regular and strong. We cannot use the tools that we have not practised using before. In Sanskrit they say,“Yuddha Kale Shastra Abhyasam” - Practising weapons at the time of war - does not help!
A crisis can be anything. Sometimes we are surprised how the smallest of happenings disturb and destabilize the mind. We hate to admit it, but we easily point the finger out and externalize the cause. Then we begin to search for solutions outside. When we are able to take responsibility for ourself and are able to do something NOW, not yesterday, not tomorrow, and able to do it consistently, then we will know that our practice is reasonably stable.
Be excited about your practice. Create a special space at home, clean and uncluttered. Begin to look forward to the time of practice, enjoy every moment of being with yourself, with whatever the focus of your practice – be it the body, breath or any object of inquiry.
Let every breath remind us of the Permanent and the impermanent that nothing except the breath can touch…

“Where is conflict when the Truth is known
Where is disease when the mind is clear
Where is death when the breath is controlled?
Therefore Surrender to Yoga”
- from Yoganjali Saram,
a composition by Sri T Krishnamacharya