Chocolate
Some people think that just because my job title is yoga teacher that I have awesome powers of self-discipline. In psychology, this is called projection. “It’s easy for you,” is what they say.
See, my husband sent me the above image in an email with the subject heading, “I saw this and thought of you.” This is what I mean.
I feel I must be completely honest and say that Daniel carries huge projections from me: he is my computer guru. If he doesn’t know the answer, either no one does, or he will find out. Even if he has to wait to solve the problem until he is standing in the shower or walking on the beach at Manning Point.
We humans are funny things – our projections bumping against each other, working and playing, marrying, and divorcing, living and dying, and perhaps the real person never discovered.
A long time ago, I saw that when people pigeonholed me as a compassionate, peaceful, disciplined and wise person, that I had not much room to move. There are a thousand other ways to be, including some negative qualities, which, when sidelined, act as our shadows.
What to do? Give ourselves permission to be human and release the other person out of any tight box they’ve been put in.
Patanjali says we cultivate awareness by stilling the mind:
Yogah citta-vrtti-nirodhah
Our aim is to “still the patterning of consciousness.”*
As Vyn Bailey says, “complete stillness coupled with full awareness – that is yoga.”**
*The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, translation and commentary by Chip Hartranft
**Patanjali’s Meditation Yoga, translation and commentary by Vyn Bailey
(If you like this post, you might want to read this one called Pedestals)
Like this:
Like Loading...
