Yogini's Dilemma by Nicole Grant

Author:Nicole Grant [Nicole A. Grant]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Published: 2020-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

Aparigrapha: Count your blessings and practice living life to its fullest.

The principles of behavior that Patañjali places before us enable us to be ‘in’ the world rather than ‘of’ the world. Aparigraha is the fifth yama and offers us an opportunity to practice not getting too attached to the idea of ‘more.’ The ego and its grasping and clinging and wanting for something ‘other than’ creates walls that imprison us within the confines of our, by nature, self-limiting perspectives. Have you never craved a little ‘more’ from your yoga practice—more ease, more flexibility, more power, more stature, to be ‘more’ like someone else—and then tried to squeeze yourself into some uncomfortable ideal or concept (of a pose or the practice itself) that doesn’t meet your needs or feel good?

Yoga tells us that this entrapment in the illusions of needing ‘more’—and we can always use more confidence, more money, more fame, more attention or validation or love, etc.—is nothing but a fearful operation that craves permanence, a sense of safety and security. The problem then becomes our dependence on outside forces for our satisfaction and sense of fulfillment. We can want for all of the things in the world but add to that our attachment to an ideal or concept we’ve been sold, and we risk striving for something that isn’t real and then suffering the distress of losing something we never had in the first place.

Consider all the things that we reach for outside ourselves that illustrate this precept only too well: Food, alcohol, drugs, sex, fame, fortune, social media, material goods, our looks, are all such examples. Your yoga asks you to refine the positive qualities of the mind that breed respect and friendliness (ahimsa), to stand in your own brilliance (satya) and align yourself with your indivisible truth (asteya), and practice conduct consistent with who you are in truth (brahmacharya) so that you can stand solid in the midst of temptations and ideals that distort or draw you away from who you know yourself to be (aparigraha).

We can take action and hold onto the promise of a specific outcome with the risk of defaulting to our original state a little worse for wear. And we can elevate ourselves to gain recognition risking a bruised ego. Until we explore the root causes of our attachments and come to see them for what they are—greed, vanity, success, affirmation, security, etc.—any attempt to create non-attachment only strengthens the source of our attachment.

So in your practice of yoga, dear yogini, persevere at assuming ownership for the choices you make. It is not the choice itself that is subject to scrutiny in practice but rather the attitude with which you approach the choice you make and the sincerity behind it. Ask yourself this in practice: Is your decision intentional? Is your choice colored by craving? Do you seek individuality (not inherently a bad thing)? And if so, is there a something underneath that individuality that seeks to perpetuate continuity, immortality, or that fragment

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