Vanity is an Obstacle
Vanity vs Vairagyam: The winner is always Vairagyam
Your worth is intrinsic. It doesn't depend on what you see in the mirror.
You don't have to look a certain way or fit into any societally validated categories. Your value rests in your very existence. Society’s messaging wreaks havoc on sense of self - can never be too thin, too fit, too well dressed, too sexy, too wealthy, too old-but-looking young. Excessive effort directed toward preserving the things that are subject to change leaves less energy available to discover and nurture your ever-lasting, authentic self. Underneath all the masks and costumes we put on to trudge through the complicated albeit beautiful gift of life rests a lightness of being. Yoga is here to navigate us there.
Vanity is ubiquitous and operates on a continuum; however, excessive pride in one's own attractiveness, occupation, achievements and status, falls flat on its face, sooner or later. This attachment perpetuates suffering. Any ego boost or successful attempt at gaining status and external validation can temporarily put you on top of the world, until gravity sets in again. Nothing compares to a stable, healthy mind, positive self-esteem and inner faith. As life humbles us, Yoga is the optimal practice to guide us toward a permanent, deep peace abiding within our hearts and souls - irregardless of recognition or external validation.
Recent stats back up a trend toward a more holistic sense of wellness, with the global wellness economy out earning the beauty industry. People are looking to inner confidence, healing and beauty en masse. The global wellness economy (personal care, beauty, and anti-aging, wellness tourism, preventive health, and workplace wellness) has reached $6.8 trillion and is projected to scale to $9.8 trillion.
Vanity is a form of misidentification, asmitā, a kleśa, a recipe for unhappiness, a mental obstacle the human minds share in common that inevitably leads to suffering. It's a mask, a covering we can hide behind. Yoga is designed to reduce our misperception that we are just our intellect, our hair, our shape, our size, our weight, our age, our job, our personalities, our emotions, our economic status, our thoughts, our gender, sex, ethnicity, race, relationship status. Taking on any of these as paramount requires upkeep that firmly establishes us in external versions of ourselves. Versions that we grasp onto for worth, for happiness, for life.
Working in women's health has taught me one thing: standards and messaging imposed upon women, and increasingly upon men, from a young age and throughout life, familial, societal and social, can lead to an endless quest for a perfection that is unobtainable.
Vairagyam is the real flex. Nurturing sustainable feel good requires two main components and many subsidiaries. Abhyasa and it’s many offshoots comprise practice. Equi-important is non-attachment, vairagyam. Abhyasa-s like Ashtanga Yoga practices bring us into balance, presence, a clearer state of mind. Yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara and meditation boost our inner strength, helping us to persevere and to discover and release what are obstacles to our own personal evolution.
Habitualized ways of conceiving yourself and your relationship to the world that weigh heavy and require excessive upkeep take the place of more important things, like health, work and family require reflection. Cultivate healthy habits in moderation and the ability to detach from what is out of your control, like aging, like other's behaviors. The ability to navigate to a calm place inside of you and choose actions in your sustainable best interest. The ability let go of the things you obsess about, the things you spend an exorbitant amount of energy preoccupied with. Choose vairagyam over vanity, and happiness will dawn.
Something new is coming to Yoga Foundation in the Fall. Many of you carry this practice in your hearts but can’t always make it to Huntington Station. We’re creating a way to stay close — monthly chanting guides, audio teachings rooted in the Krishnamacharya lineage, philosophy reflections, and a small virtual circle for those who want to go deeper. Membership will start at just $5/month. If this speaks to you, simply reply to this email and let me know — your response will help shape what we build.