Week Four - Brahmacharya, The Discipline of Allowing Energy to Flow

Hello everyone,

Thank you to everyone you made it to classes last Sunday! It was a packed Yin class at 6:30pm - which was absolutely amazing, thank you all. What a fantastic time of year to begin a quieter, slower, stretchier practice that allows us to go inward and tend to ourselves. If you would like to save your space this Sunday the 21st in the Hatha at 5pm, or in Yin at 6:30pm, please let me know :) 

This is our fourth week of this term (my goodness!) and so we are coming up to explore the fourth yama in sage Patanjali's guide to yoga 'ethics'. A framework for how to approach yoga in practice, and a teaching for how to bring yoga philosophy off the mat and into your daily life. 

This week, we are working with the yama of brahmacharya; non-indulgence. The literal translation for brahmacharya is to follow 'the path of Brahman', which means to act in such a way that invites discovery of the divine. Traditionally, this yama is accepted as a suggestion for celibacy - to moderate one's physical urges, especially when they may eventually lead to pain or dissatisfaction. But ultimately, brahmacharya is a suggestion to simply observe where your energy goes, and where you may be spending your energy in ways that do not serve you. 

I like to think of eating a chocolate biscuit as an example. To eat the biscuit is not inherently bad. If you have it with enjoyment, tasting every bite, with a devilish sort of satisfaction or even a delighted sense of rebellion  - the biscuit will likely do more good than bad in the overall balance of your life. But if you eat the same biscuit without thinking, compulsively, with shame and the kind of glazed-eye numbness that comes from not being in control of your own actions - the biscuit will likely cause more harm than good overall. In this, it is really not about what we do, but how we do it. How are we using our energy? How are we blocking it? How are we squandering it for the fleeting relief of momentary dopamine and pleasure? - I can feel a few people turning to point fingers at social media as the new and ultimate source of temporary relief that in excess leads to  dissatisfaction and exhaustion. I feel that too. A funny cat video, then a cute laughing baby, followed by a new cake recipe...and suddenly half the day is gone and you feel sort...sad. Brahmacharya is essentially a suggestion towards discipline - to be conscious of how you are using your energy, and be curious about how you might cultivate it to flow freely and serve you, rather than the opposite. 

When we take the concept of brahmacharya out of the real world and onto the yoga mat - you might consider this: if you had to hold a yoga pose for a full hour - be it a downward dog, a simple cross legged seat, or a deep hip stretch - what would you change in your body and mind so that you could stay there more easily? You would probably relax your face, your jaw, breathe slower, soften any muscles that were not completely necessary to maintain the asana....you would indistinctly conserve your energy by releasing all unnecessary effort in the body. You might even find a way to truly conserve your energy by releasing unnecessary resistance in your mind. Yoga teaches that the ultimate way to allow energy - prana - life source - to flow is to surrender fully to the present moment. Therefore we could go so far as to see brahmacharya as a suggestion to consciously observe and not indulge the desires or stories of our ego - as this is where most of our energy gets lost. Worry. Anxiety. Fear of the unknown. Trying to control what we cannot. Trying to change what we cannot. So much of our joy can be wasted here. In the words of Ekhart Tolle:

Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is completed, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most people's thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunction and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful. Observe your mind and you will find this to be true. It causes serious leakage of vital energy.

I often find myself re-reading The Power of Now when I feel exhausted or stressed. The above words may be harsh, but they are true. At least for me. So much of my life's potential for joy, love, connection, meaning, power, energy...has been blocked, and is being blocked, by worry and doubt. All of which are, according to yoga and Ekhart, ultimately illusions and misunderstandings. Māyā. To believe a fictional reality and choose it over the present moment.

Easier said than done to try the opposite. But yoga is a great place to begin a practice of awareness, and forgiveness. I would love to see you on the mat this Sunday :) Or, if you're still reading, you might be inspired to roll out a mat or a towel and give a go at a meditation or movement. You might even just sit up a little taller, take a big conscious breath, and spend a few minutes noticing what you notice, inside and out. See if your energy feels lighter. 

Wishing you loads of love. 

Let Go of Your Worries

 by Rumi

Let go of your worries

and be completely clear-hearted,

like the face of a mirror

that contains no images.

If you want a clear mirror,

behold yourself

and see the shameless truth,

which the mirror reflects.

If metal can be polished

to a mirror-like finish,

what polishing might the mirror

of the heart require?

Between the mirror and the heart

is this single difference:

the heart conceals secrets,

while the mirror does not.

Le grá,

Macha