Week Five - Aparigraha, The Freedom of Non-Possession
Hello everyone,
I can't believe it - we are already in our final week of the yoga yamas term! Thank you so much to all who have participated in practice with me the last few Sundays, whether it was in the Hatha or the Yin class - you are a star! I knew the first moment that I began teaching yoga in Greystones that I wanted to bring in a Yin Yoga class at Thrive. To offer something different, something slower... a more grounding option than our classic (and wonderful) yoga flow. I can't believe how quickly and easily it has come to be. Cheers to you!
Booking is now open for our new term that will begin on October 12th - and I'm delighted to say that spaces are already filling up for both Sunday classes. If you would like to sign up for the five week term in either Hatha or Yin (discounted rate of €75) or save a space or two via the drop in rate (€17), please let me know :)
For this Sunday the 28th there are also spots available in both the Hatha at 5pm and the Yin at 6:30pm, if you'd like to come and join in for our last practice of the term! After this week we will take a one week break, so no yoga on October 5th, and then we'll be back with a new term and philosophy theme :)
This Sunday we will be continuing our exploration of the yamas and working with the wisdom of aparigraha, which is often translated as non-possessiveness, or non-attachment. Read on to learn more about this fifth yama in patanjali's yoga sutras, and how it could serve you to ponder it. It's a good one!
If you've been keeping up with these letters, you know that a yama in yoga philosophy is a moral guideline for behavior both on and off the yoga mat. The fifth yama in Patanjali's yoga sutras, aparigraha, is literally translated to mean to 'not' (the prefix 'a') grab (graha) on all sides (pari). Aka non-hoarding, non-greed, non-possessiveness. This is both a guidance to not hoard or desire possessions in the physical world, *immediately starts singing the melody of John Lennon's famous song...
Imagine no possessions...I wonder if you can.
As well as this, Aparigraha is also an instruction to avoid getting overly attached in an emotional or intellectual sense...be it to a person, a relationship, a job, an idea, or a belief. You could now imagine a young woman in a giant ice castle singing at the top of her lungs...
Let it go! Let it go!
Ah, the relief.
On a personal level, I have to admit that aparigraha has been the needle in my back this year. The fear of losing what I've worked so hard to get. Since I've moved to Greystones, I have been swept up in windfall after windfall - a beautiful apartment, a great job, an amazing yoga community, ever-deepening personal relationships, wonderful new friends...yet despite all this goodness, I have somehow felt more anxious than I can ever remember feeling as an adult. It has perplexed me! But I've come to realise that when we cling actively to the things we have, or even to things we want, we bind ourselves to them in a way that stops us feeling good pretty fast. Up until last year I was travelling the world, backpacking, living abroad, studying in university, moving from city to city, home to home...free as a bird. At that time, the thought of losing a job, or losing money, time; even losing a friend or a partner...it didn't matter as much to me, because I knew it was all temporary anyway. I was looking forward to the potential. This is the first time that I've planned to stay put, intending to build something that lasts, to put down roots. And with that newfound attachment to my lifestyle here a surprising amount of fear has reared its ugly head to join the party.
I read once that if you need everything to go right in order for you to feel at peace, it is not peace - it's control. When we cling to what we have, we pretend that we have power over whether it stays or goes. We don't have that power. From yogic and buddhist perspectives, believing in that illusion is a waste of your vital energy and joy. I can't help but think of the song by Joe Pug where he sings: 'The more I buy the more I'm bought. The more I'm bought the less I cost".
The world we live in is obsessed with more possessions, more money, more success, more independence, more activity, more individuality, more more more. Aparigraha teaches us that less is more. Be humble. Be generous. Surrender. Cultivate a baseline feeling of gratitude. I have always wanted a big beautiful house with huge rooms and open spaces for me to run around in - until my partner pointed out that it would take me hours every week to clean a house like that! We need to remember the freedom of having less. And cherish what we have all the more for that it is fleeting.
That's all from me! Thank you so much for your time and energy. I can't wait to see you on the mat!
Le grá,
Macha
Hymnn #101 by Joe Pug
(listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlrrf2QiqjE )
And I've come to know the wishlist of my father
I've come to know the shipwrecks where he wished
I've come to wish aloud, among the overdressed crowd
Come to witness now the sinking of the ship
Throwing pennies from the seatop next to it
And I've come to roam the forest past the village
With a dozen lazy horses in my cart
I've come here to get high, to do more than just get by
I've come to test the timbre of my heart
I've come to test the timbre of my heart
And I have come to be untroubled in my seeking
And I have come to see that nothing is for naught
I've come to reach out blind, to reach forward and behind
For the more I seek, the more I'm sought
The more I seek the more I'm sought
And I've come to meet the sheriff and his posse
To offer him the broadside of my jaw
I have come here to get broke and then maybe bum a smoke
We'll go drinking two towns over after all
We'll go drinking two towns over after all
I've come to meet the legendary takers
I've only come to ask them for a lot
They say I've come with less than I should rightfully possess
I say the more I buy the more I'm bought
And the more I'm bought the less I cost
And I have come to take their servants and their surplus
And I have come to take their raincoats and their speed
I've come to get my fill, to ransack and spill
I've come to trade the harvest for the seed
I've come to trade the harvest for the seed
And I've come to know the manger that you sleep in
I have come to be the stranger that you keep
I've come from down the road and my footsteps never slowed
Before we met I knew we'd meet
Before we met I knew we'd meet
And I've come here to ignore your cries and heartaches
I've come to closely listen to you sing
I've come here to insist, that I leave here with a kiss
I've come to say exactly what I mean
And I mean so many things
And you've come to know me stubborn as a butcher
And you've come to know me thankless as a guest
But will you recognize my face when god's awful grace
Strips me of my jacket and my vest
And reveals all the treasure in my chest
