Yoga & Embodied Mindfulness
The goal of Yoga (union) is Yoga (union). My all-time favorite of the 196 Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is the second one: "Yogash Chitta Vritti Nirodhah.” Translation: Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. That’s what yoga is for me. A way to turn down the volume of this noisy world we live in. Way down. Socrates once said: “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” Ouch. I would even paraphrase to say “Beware the barrenness of a cluttered and distracted mind.” How can you truly experience life if you aren’t really living in it?
“The father of Mysore said it best: ‘Yoga means true self- knowledge.’ Take the leap. Go deeper. Reach farther. Allow yourself to be lifted to higher levels. I double downward dog dare you.” ~Reid Robison, MD MBA
Mother Teresa knew what's up: “Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.” But how can we be happy in the moment if we don’t even know how to be present in a moment? As a psychiatrist, I’ve prescribed A LOT of medications over the past decade for what often seems to be an inability to quiet the mind, resulting in trouble sleeping, stress, anxiety. Worrying about tomorrow, or rehashing obsessively something that happened yesterday? It’s tempting to turn towards a pill as a quick fix or temporary solution. While there are plenty of highly legitimate conditions that often require intervention from psychiatric medications, I became quite interested in the significant percentage of folks who might benefit from learning to quiet the mind a bit, as an alternative to these default habit-forming meds that are ridden with side effects. I first reached out to meditation as a tool for this, teaching patients individually, teaching classes in the community. However, it turns out that it’s extremely difficult to convince people to sit in silence, focus on their breath and clear the mind, even for just a few minutes per day. It's interesting how something so simple and so beneficial is actually quite difficult to adopt as self-practice in a daily routine. Then I discovered yoga, which for me, not only takes meditation to new heights by involving both mind and body and breath (union!), but also seems to be so much more accessible due to the group setting, and because of the fitness benefits as a dangling carrot. Endorphins, and the promise of a better body (which, as it turns out, is just a vehicle for enlightenment), keep people coming back for more.
And yes, I am suggesting that for mild-moderate cases of depression, anxiety, insomnia... that there is quite possibly a better first line therapy than a pill. Think about it. How much of our own anxiety, or trouble sleeping, is due to not having control over our unruly minds and letting our thoughts run amok into rehashing the past, or worrying about tomorrow. And I’m certainly preaching to the choir here but look at your own experience with yoga, and how it trains you both on and off the mat to take control, mind over body, with conscious breathing as your anchor to conquer the chaos of everyday life.
For most people, yoga starts out as just “exercise” — a way to get more flexible, maybe even work on core strength, perhaps learn to “chill” here and there. But it seems to me that there’s a tipping point after really giving yoga a chance, one can’t help but see and feel the transformative potential, and naturally evolves into the art of living. Yoga is a life long journey of self-discovery, reflection, and growth. The foundations we set, and the lessons we learn on the mat transcend to our everyday lives. For me, yoga is a system of living.. as much, if not more, geared to the mind and soul as it is to the body. From the yoga sutras: “We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?”
Almost 2,000 years ago, Patanjali was onto something when he suggested that the key to success in yoga is dedicated, uninterrupted practice over an extended period of time. The resulting neural networks or samskaras, as we call them in yoga, get stronger and stronger as you stay with the practice. Like indentations made by a wagon wheel, or your mountain bike, that make it easier and easier for fall into place next time you take that path. Slowly but surely, these grooves of thought and action help guide people out of the ruts in which they’ve been stuck.
As we make our way through the asanas, a shift in identity might unfold. We play with the mind and the body, interlacing willpower, intention, being receptive.. then we seal in the practice and reflect on our new state of being, perhaps with a refreshed sense of ‘I am’, what Patanjali calls asmita. The brain’s capacity to form a new identity takes shape in the new boundaries we’ve just stretched. Yoga wakes us up to all aspects of being -- body, mind, and spirit -- so that the sense of self evolves into fuller and freer ways of experiencing what it means to be alive. The Sanskrit word yoga means union: of body, breath, mind and spirit. So for me, the goal of Yoga (union) is, well, Yoga (union)... period. That's it. When it's all said and done, the simple truth is that we do yoga today so we can do more yoga tomorrow.
When you get in the zone, and attain this desirable state of ‘union’, flowing from pose to pose, with your breath, and time stands still, nothing outside of your mat even matters, that’s what happiness feels like. It’s our default state. The absence of other sh-t. So now, take that and feel it outside of your yoga practice. with every cell of your body.
Like Iyengar said: “Yoga is like music. The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul, create the symphony of life.”
