[From a talk Saraswathi Vasudevan gave at Hyderabad. Part 1 of 3. Thanks to Suchitra Shenoy for transcribing it thoroughly.]
What fuels people? There is a secret ingredient; what is it?
What takes us deeper and deeper? Takes us forward? The secret ingredient [that does so], is really important for me as a yoga teacher and researcher. It is like a thread that can be held on to.
I’m reminded of someone who was, for me, the epitome of this secret ingredient. I call her a close friend because she is very close to my heart, though we only met three or four times.
The first time we met, she came for therapy. She couldn’t use her arm, she had lost all strength, all musculature. It was an autoimmune condition that created immense pain. She had a morphine pump to control the pain. That’s how she came to yoga.
In spite of this she was cheerful. And she started practicing yoga. Six months later she shook hands with me; with the same arm that she couldn’t lift earlier. And she said, “You know what? I can now do downward dog and upward dog… All because of yoga.” “I will get there,” she said, talking about what else she had to do. “I will get there.”
A year later she had cancer and it was quite bad. I was in Australia and we met in a park. She was wheeled in with an oxygen cylinder by her husband. We had a good time. We ate, laughed, talked and meditated together. I asked her what keeps her going. She said, “The cancer has spread everywhere. It is in my liver, my spleen, my spine. It is all over me. But you know what, Saras? My brain and my heart are intact.” And she laughed.
What makes you persevere I asked her? “I don’t give up. As long as I live I want to be happy, and I continue,” she said. All of us were moved to tears by her passion for life, the celebration of life. So for me, the secret ingredient that she carried was her love for life; she infused in everyone around her.
The secret ingredient is called shraddha in Sanskrit, the desire or inner conviction. There can be no yoga without shraddha.
*
The problem is when we take something out of context, like asanas, and focus on it. Asanasis a good beginning. But yoga is an umbrella under which only a small part is asanas. We know the body is impermanent (it will age, get disease, perish), so can we go beyond that? Can we connect with something deeper than the body? Yoga is the quiet mind that helps discriminate between the right path and the distracting path.
And shraddha therefore, is the deep inner conviction to follow my yoga. It is the internal energy or strength. It is not about external success. Can I develop a qualitative shift of mind? Can I move away from frustration and confusion towards clarity and reflection?
(to be continued..)
What fuels people? There is a secret ingredient; what is it?
What takes us deeper and deeper? Takes us forward? The secret ingredient [that does so], is really important for me as a yoga teacher and researcher. It is like a thread that can be held on to.
I’m reminded of someone who was, for me, the epitome of this secret ingredient. I call her a close friend because she is very close to my heart, though we only met three or four times.
The first time we met, she came for therapy. She couldn’t use her arm, she had lost all strength, all musculature. It was an autoimmune condition that created immense pain. She had a morphine pump to control the pain. That’s how she came to yoga.
In spite of this she was cheerful. And she started practicing yoga. Six months later she shook hands with me; with the same arm that she couldn’t lift earlier. And she said, “You know what? I can now do downward dog and upward dog… All because of yoga.” “I will get there,” she said, talking about what else she had to do. “I will get there.”
A year later she had cancer and it was quite bad. I was in Australia and we met in a park. She was wheeled in with an oxygen cylinder by her husband. We had a good time. We ate, laughed, talked and meditated together. I asked her what keeps her going. She said, “The cancer has spread everywhere. It is in my liver, my spleen, my spine. It is all over me. But you know what, Saras? My brain and my heart are intact.” And she laughed.
What makes you persevere I asked her? “I don’t give up. As long as I live I want to be happy, and I continue,” she said. All of us were moved to tears by her passion for life, the celebration of life. So for me, the secret ingredient that she carried was her love for life; she infused in everyone around her.
The secret ingredient is called shraddha in Sanskrit, the desire or inner conviction. There can be no yoga without shraddha.
*
The problem is when we take something out of context, like asanas, and focus on it. Asanasis a good beginning. But yoga is an umbrella under which only a small part is asanas. We know the body is impermanent (it will age, get disease, perish), so can we go beyond that? Can we connect with something deeper than the body? Yoga is the quiet mind that helps discriminate between the right path and the distracting path.
And shraddha therefore, is the deep inner conviction to follow my yoga. It is the internal energy or strength. It is not about external success. Can I develop a qualitative shift of mind? Can I move away from frustration and confusion towards clarity and reflection?
(to be continued..)
