February Mumbo Jumbo
This week I have been pondering the second yoga sutra: yogas citta-vrtti-nirodhah
This sutra roughly translates to: Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind.
I shared this sutra in my yoga class last night and I asked people to contemplate this. This is such a powerful statement and for me it sums up the last decade of my life.
Last month I turned 30 and have been coming to a lot of “ah-hah” moments. Our society places so much energy, commotion, and expectations upon this age. One of my friends from Fiji said she never had any thoughts about this age until she came to the United States. Where does this pressure to check all our boxes by 30 come from? Whatever the case, we are just setting ourselves up for disturbance. When we create these expectations and attach a timeline to it, I feel like we are imposing limitations on what is possible and true for ourselves. We end up running around in a frantic trying to accomplish goals that have been drilled into our minds while simultaneously ignoring our bodies and hearts.
Lucky for me, I am a modern woman with the freedom and information that women of the past may not have had. Instead of chasing money, career goals, and material possessions, I spent the last decade deciphering my truth and searching for inner peace. I dove into healing. I dedicated my time and energy into understanding myself, my patterns, my inner state. I traveled to get away from the familiar and to meet myself bare. I was fortunate enough to have my yoga practice as a support system on this journey. Yoga philosophy has trickled into my life over the years. Sometimes sounding more like mumbo jumbo and other times making perfect sense. Currently this yoga sutra 1.2 , feels like a concrete brick to me. And all the “supposed to’s” of life are the mumbo jumbo.
“Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind. When that is accomplished, the seer abides in the own true nature. Otherwise, at other times, (the seer) is absorbed in the changing states (of the mind).”
This is a translation of yoga sutras 1.2-1.4. In my opinion the secret to happiness is locked in these 3 sentences.
I think ultimately we all want to reside in our own true nature. Meaning we all want to feel content, at ease, and yes, happy. The body is always working to bring itself back into homeostasis, or a balanced state. In our minds we are striving to achieve what we have been brainwashed to believe will bring us to that happy place. A career, outrageous experiences, a family, a house, money, security, etc. However we are working against our own true nature. We do not need to acquire anything to get there. It is already there inside of us. The work is uncovering it. Releasing everything that is NOT who we truly are.
Practically speaking I’m not saying you should quit your life and run for the mountain top. What I’m saying is S I M P L I F Y your life. Stop running around exhausting yourself and rest. Spend time outside in nature and breathe. Spend time sitting and doing NOTHING. Learn breathing techniques to settle your mind chatter. It is there you will create some space between you and your thoughts. It is within this space you will meet your True Self. Spend time residing in that space. Let me know if this helps.
-satchie