Finesse It

Prakrti requires intelligent manipulation

We are not currently ripe for every transformation we want, and we may never be ripe for certain evolutions. In a society where we are told if we work for it we can have it, this nuance of Yoga will not sit right with everyone. Everything is not possible. If you are born round, dying square is far from Yoga’s goal: self-sovereignty that completely liberates you from prakrti's fluctuations. Yoga is not here to teach you how to change your birth potentials, but to accept them.

Let’s determine what is within our reach, and how to reach it. We come into life with a unique constitution, complete with our own nature and related possibilities. Yoga’s gift is truly a relief every time we receive it. It is not trying to change you, but make you more you, aligning you with a very original version of yourself that is waiting to shine. Struggles, conditioning and traumatic residue introduce us to a survival mode, not intended to become our norm, chronic but sometimes is becomes so familiar we don’t know any better. Deeper than our survival mode is a healthy us (the one who sought out Yoga), trapped by our thinking, feeling, embodiment, prana patterns and personalities. We, as we are, are the starting point.

So how do we find it? Through intelligent manipulation. Just doing Yoga doesn’t work. It’s an unfamiliar territory where we often choose an adventure based on our klesa-s, our likes, dislikes, ego and fears. Not just with Yoga, but with all of life’s unchartered territories. This is why we have Parents. Teachers. Coaches. Mentors. Guides. Otherwise, we misguide our own selves. We are not meant to be unsupervised. I like to be physical so my Yoga goal is a handstand. I am flexible, so I will romanticize fancy hanumanasana-s and kapotasana-s. I don’t like backbends, so I’m going to pascimatana. I don’t like moving, so I’m going to do restorative sound baths.

An intelligent resource with insightful interventions is needed to support the transformation process, to pacify and purify our systems. And a connection is imperative. Strangers, apps, youtube videos, rotating teachers depending upon whims and fancies won’t cut it, it being the root of our suffering.

The time also must be right. I have to be ready to engage from a deeper level, with the tools, with myself, with the teacher. For example, after decades of mantra chanting, I am learning a timeless, powerful mantra of mysterious origin that my chanting teacher is only teaching me, now. Previously, I had listened to it only, prescribed by my teacher. Now, my sanity and health requiring stronger tools, and I’ve learned it within multiple classes over a week’s time. The circumstances under which she is teaching me have rendered it extra precious, actually. It took one class for me to begin feeling “different,” like I was not alone enduring my circumstances, but had a divine guardian with me. Little by little

Repeated practice and engagement, refinement and reflection helps us finesse this life path with all we got. As time elapses, we grow or shrink according to this formula. Growing, our nature somehow returns, weathered and thankful to be embraced by us. How do we know? We breathe easy.