You are walking down a road, a few metres in front of you is an absent minded friend who is about to walk off the left of the track.
“Go right!” you yell.
A while later, besotted by fatigue, the same friend is about to veer to the right.
“Go left!”
Life is a journey and our path is our daily reality.
It winds, twists, bends, forks, it goes up and down and on and on.
One day, it could be us that is teetering on the edge of a precarious precipice in need of a gentle nudge.
Who is the guide?
The path of Yoga posits that we are governed by two broad energetic tendencies, the masculine / feminine or pingala / ida nadis. These are our right and left channels.
Interestingly, and not by chance, we are bipedal creatures (that is, two feet.) We also have two hemispheres of the brain, each of which is deeply correlated with differing modes of attending to being.
The brain, is mirror imaged; the left brain controls the right body and vice versa. The tendency of the left brain, the masculine side, is to grasp, to fix, to separate objects so that we may manipulate them.
The right brain has a very different function; broadening, expanding awareness so that we can appraise the gestalt, to see the whole beyond the parts.
Just as walking involves the coordination of left and right feet, navigation of life requires both masculine and feminine sides.
Too much masculine and we become a slave to work, obsessing over details. Too much feminine and we don’t get anything productive done.
Quick note, these are energies, not genders, and no matter the gender of the body, we have both!
Yoga posits a solution; the journey of ascent, transcendence, liberation… whatever you want to call it, requires us to be in the centre channel (sushumna nadi.)
How do we know when we are in our centre?
We can navigate the treacherous path of life without falling off either side.
Yoga does not concern itself with the destination of the path; that is our individual karma and destiny. As an applied craft and science, it is focused on equipping individuals with tools to self-correct, to go right and to go left when needed.
Though it would be useful to have a guide lurking over our shoulder informing our every step, it would one, a little creepy, and two, it would deny us our agency.
The crowning practice of Yoga is not pretzel like contortionism, but the art of meditation (dhyana.) Meditation enables us to gain mental balance, and more importantly, anchors us in the plane of awareness, consciousness, the is-ness of being.
Upon our path at Kailash Ashram, we call that the Soul (Atman.)
By simply sitting and watching our direct experience, with no method and thus no way to do it right or wrong, we learn to abide in our essence.
Like a fatty cut of meat, we stew in our own juices.
Over time, this brings alive the principle of internal guidance; the voice of the Soul gets louder.
What does this bring?
A faint whisper telling us when we are about to veer off of our path.
Though the impulse when we hear external or internal correction can be brash (“I will never love again!”), the goal is always to come back to centre, not to rock between extremes.
I first discovered the art of balance when trying to stay on my bicycle at traffic lights. Too stubborn to unclip my shoes and put a foot down, I found that if I tried to be rigid and still, I would fall.
When I ‘went with it’ and gently rocked backward and forth, I found I could stay more or less balanced.
As you equip yourself with the various physical and energetic Yogic tools, you too can stay balanced, no matter where the path of life takes you.
This week, if you wish, pay attention to the edges of life that you bump up against and allow yourself to play with the required approach to bring you back to your centre. If you overcorrect, no problem, come back gently to centre.
You can tell you are ‘there’ when you are absorbed in what you are doing and are care-free; you just are.
May the voice of your Soul guide you always, and may your path bring you all that you seek.
Jai Atmeshwar
Victory to the Divine Soul
David
PS IF you are looking to equip yourselves with time tested, accessible tools to stay centred on your journey through life, we would love to share this with you on an upcoming retreat.
