One night, I lay down my bed and appreciated the taste of a single grape. It turns out that when you take the time to savor it, there are multitudes of layers in the taste— the texture, the temperature, the sweetness, the water content. All of that within a single grape. We don’t often get to appreciate the simple things, what is right in front of us, what is so readily available. In fact, our culture pushes the opposite mentality. We even have a hashtag for it— #YOLO— You only live once. And so we are told we need to do more and more and more, and seek the next excitement and the next excitement and the next excitement. Yoga trains us to invert this mindset— to do the opposite. Yoga teaches us to be here, to be present, to be alive, to arrive.
When we practice asana, instead of anticipating the “peak pose”, can we appreciate all of the movements? Can we be present in all of them, and not treat some as mere transitions, somehow less important? Can we think of our practice as a legitimate practice, and not somehow less than, because it doesn’t resemble what we see in yoga magazines just yet? Can we use our presence as enough, enough for ourselves, and enough for others too. When someone we care about is going through a difficult time, perhaps it is not our role to fix their problems for them or save them, perhaps our greatest gift is simply to be present. Perhaps there is no need for anything “more”. When we think of our circumstances, how we came to this world living this incarnation, we may often complain about the details we have no control of, such as the parents whom we are born into, or the place where we were born, or our race or status or nationality. We may be stuck in this idea that we wish things were different. How about inverting this thought as well, and appreciating that it is precisely because of these circumstances that we are who we are today. When we think of our current situation, the things we have chosen, whom we spend our time with, what our job is, how we fill the days of our lives, we may also sometimes forget that we chose these for a reason, and we can get caught up in dissatisfaction thinking things should be different. Again, invert this thought and appreciate what we have chosen, that there is so much to be thankful for.
When the present culture is brainwashing us to pursue more and more and more, forcing us to think we need the next excitement and the next excitement and the next excitement, knowing “enough” becomes an act of rebellion. From this inverted way of thinking, we yogis build a counterculture of enough, of gratitude, of appreciation of all things big and small. Perhaps things do not have to be more than as they are. Perhaps all is enough.
When we practice asana, instead of anticipating the “peak pose”, can we appreciate all of the movements? Can we be present in all of them, and not treat some as mere transitions, somehow less important? Can we think of our practice as a legitimate practice, and not somehow less than, because it doesn’t resemble what we see in yoga magazines just yet? Can we use our presence as enough, enough for ourselves, and enough for others too. When someone we care about is going through a difficult time, perhaps it is not our role to fix their problems for them or save them, perhaps our greatest gift is simply to be present. Perhaps there is no need for anything “more”. When we think of our circumstances, how we came to this world living this incarnation, we may often complain about the details we have no control of, such as the parents whom we are born into, or the place where we were born, or our race or status or nationality. We may be stuck in this idea that we wish things were different. How about inverting this thought as well, and appreciating that it is precisely because of these circumstances that we are who we are today. When we think of our current situation, the things we have chosen, whom we spend our time with, what our job is, how we fill the days of our lives, we may also sometimes forget that we chose these for a reason, and we can get caught up in dissatisfaction thinking things should be different. Again, invert this thought and appreciate what we have chosen, that there is so much to be thankful for.
When the present culture is brainwashing us to pursue more and more and more, forcing us to think we need the next excitement and the next excitement and the next excitement, knowing “enough” becomes an act of rebellion. From this inverted way of thinking, we yogis build a counterculture of enough, of gratitude, of appreciation of all things big and small. Perhaps things do not have to be more than as they are. Perhaps all is enough.
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