Sunday, March 11, 2012

finding stability, balance and neutrality

Sutra 4.15; Desikachar translation: "The characteristics of an object appear differently, depending on the different mental state of the observer."

I can relate to this in several different ways :-) For example when me and my sister discus things that happened when we were kids, we often have very different ideas of what happened, we have been in the same situation but our stories couldn't differ more. But I also recognize this in me myself. A situation can appear clearly hopeless in the evening and when I wake up the next day it seems like nothing and no problem at all.

So in asana practice this brings me to observe the mental state, that I'm practicing with, the glasses of the day, just to see through which filter am I experiencing the asana today. But it also means that I need to stay in the here and now. My teachers have from the first day I came into a yoga room, banned the words "I cannot..." and "I will never...". They've told me it's ok to not do an asana or an suggestion today, but leave it here and see what happens tomorrow; tomorrow.

A loved person in my life told me he couldn't enjoy the beauty of Grand Canyon, because his mental state were obscure from having an argument with his girlfriend. I guess that's why so much in yoga is about finding stability, balance and neutrality, so that we can experience the reality and not just our minds stories about reality.

Namasté
Jenni Saunte