New Year’s Eve Day…. The kids, some of them anyway, are in the living room playing an X-Box dance game and making it a little difficult for me to focus on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra’s, the golden rules for life.
Patanjali didn’t have the same distractions when he wrote his sutras sometime back between 200 BC and 200 AD, but there apparently was enough going on even then for him to compile 195 aphorisms that describe what it truly means to incorporate the science of yoga into one’s life. In essence, Patanjali wrote that yoga is much more than the postures or asanas, but how we treat ourselves, our family, our friends, our acquaintances, and our planet.
While some would describe Patanjali’s words as simple and straightforward, yogis, historians and philosophers have been debating their precise meaning for thousands of years. I’m sure I don’t understand them very well, but I do think about them from time to time including now, as 2011 comes to an end. I wonder if I am integrating yoga into my life, off the mat?
In the last year, my mantra was that the universe will unfold as it should. But, I realize that I usually said or thought that only after the universe unfolded as I thought it should. I fear that mantra didn’t cross my mind when I was disappointed with the way something turned out.
Case in point: Christmas. With all the lightness and joy comes disappointment that can often be traced to experiences of what the holiday has been and preconceived notions of what it should be. Like a lot of people, I miss loved ones no longer with us, with traditions no longer followed, heck, even with the lack of snow. For me, the struggle comes every other year when my son goes off to his dad’s for the holiday break. This is not, I think, how holidays should be celebrated! While I thought I was being cheerful, I actually allowed my disappointment to seep into my psyche. I ended up being miserable and sharing that misery with everyone around me.
I tried something different this year. Yes, I missed my son. Yes, I thought of him often. But unlike those other odd-numbered Christmases when I my son was away, I finally was able to detach myself from needing him to be with me for me to be fully present and enjoy the holiday for all that it offered. I created new traditions. I was grateful for the loved ones that I could be with. And, I think, instead of bringing misery to our holiday gatherings, I finally brought a little joy.
Building on this more positive Christmas, I’m going to spend some time in 2012 exploring this idea of detachment. I haven’t quite figured out where passion fits in with all of this. I don’t think Patanjali was advising against passion. Passion can be good. It drives me forward in my work and my play, in my relationships as well as my civic duty. But I do think it’s possible to be passionate and engaged without associating happiness or success only to one outcome.
And when I figure that out, I suppose I should go back to the sutras and see what Patanjali would say about X-boxes.
Blessing of the new year to us all….
Gin.
