Special Powers are not the goal

Special powers ARE NOT the goal

And the moment they become the goal, you sabotage your evolution. But they inevitably happen.

As enticing as Yogic powers may be, if we do Yoga intent on accomplishing particular personal gains, we’re doomed before we begin. Why? Expectations set us up for disaster and the focus must be on the quality of our practice, not the result. Instead, the focus is on the becoming aligned with the practices. As Sir, TKV Desikachar said on a few occasions, “Something will happen.” A competent Yoga Therapist will design an appropriate practice for you. Whether it’s addressing metabolic function, menopause, behavioral impulses, migraines or back pain you are looking to address, the aim is to stay connected, to your teacher, to your practice.

Once you have learned to chant and have studied the first two chapters, what's next? It's not a trick question: the third, Vibhūti Pādaḥ. Because the nature of sutra texts is orderly and progressive, in our school, this learning is open only to those who have a handle on, not just the Samadhi and Sadhana Padah-s, but the practices therewithin. Is this you? It's time for a sutra studies upgrade. Otherwise, it's just olympic level intellectual gymnastics that won't land as relevant and practical.

A missing link for many students of Yoga is Yoga Sutra studies. We’ve dialed in our classes to be easy to take (once every other week for 45 minutes) and high yield transformative. Today, we highlight a feedback response from a dear sutra student who has completed both Samadhi and Sadhana Padah-s to illustrate how the dual work of practice and study yields a practitioner ready to learn the third chapter. Inevitably, it’s the integration of the two that yields more thoughtful life experiences replete with awareness and sensitivity, vulnerability and transformation.

YS I. 51 Feedback question

Perhaps there is a moment-in-time when your perception seemed fresh and unhindered by past imprints, favorable ones from Yoga practice or otherwise. Timeless. Boundless. Even just a fleeting one. What mechanisms facilitated that? And which ones sabotaged it?

YS I.51 Feedback response

“There have been special moments when time seems to stand still, and I have become one with what is.  It could happen at the ocean, the beauty and majesty lulling me to absolute peace.  It could happen when I look into a baby’s eyes, our Souls connecting to God and all that is.  It could happen when I’m watching a sunset or sunrise, drinking in the silent power of change, one world folding into another, gently or with a bang and everything in between.  It could happen when I’m practicing one of the limbs of yoga when the light and peace envelop me, and I know that everything is just as it should be.  These are fleeting moments that don’t last, but it gives me a taste of the expansiveness of the Soul.   

I asked my husband this question, and he came up with two traumatic moments, one when we got to the scene of a horrible accident involving our son, waiting for the paramedics to arrive while time seemed to stand still.  The other was when he looked up to see me lying in the street after our dog bolted and pulled me down, and I fractured my femur. I find it interesting that he came up with these examples, whereas I gravitated to the positive experiences.

I think for me my moments happened when I was open to reality as it was, without any judgments, and not needing it to last or be anything different than what it was. I experienced this when each of my children were born.  The miracle of life is awe-inspiring.  These timeless moments are sabotaged when I stand apart from the moment, judging it, analyzing it, trying to nudge in the direction I want it to go.  My husband isn’t a yogi, but he had a similar take on what facilitates these moments and what sabotages them.  He said what facilitated it for him was when he forgot himself and merged with his surroundings.  What sabotages it for him is self-consciousness and judging himself.  And I would add that for me the impressions of fear and anxiety will sabotage the mind and its ability to experience the expansiveness of the soul. But fighting against it only makes it worse.  When it comes my way, I try to remember to accept it and greet it as an old friend before I start reassuring myself with words or breath or mantra.  When I am free from worry and fear, my heart and mind are more open to receive moments of clarity and bliss.”

Anonymous, and profound