Thousands of pages have been written on lifestyle practices to improve your health. There are life coaches, physical trainers, psychologists and others to help you be happy. My goal is to focus on the fundamentals of two practices - Yoga and Ayurveda. Sometimes we lose the basic messages with the thousands of pages written. This blog will simplify (may over-simplify) these centuries old practices to a few pages. The purpose is to not explain in detail; rather to stimulate further pursuit.
Yoga is not sweating profusely in a hot gym while putting our bodies in unnatural positions. Hatha (exercise) is a very important part of yoga (more later in this blog). However, it is only a small part. Please don't let the exercise distract you from the pursuit. Either by only doing Hatha and ignoring the other important aspects, or not pursuing Yoga because of the exercises.
Yoga is the process to connect to the world around us and find inner peace. It has eight branches - or steps - to attaining this ideal. The branches are sequential - they build on one another. Like algebra, you can't jump to the end without achieving the previous steps. When the eight steps are completed an individual will have inner peace and happiness. There are NO shortcuts. This is the only way to peace and happiness. Yoga teaches good health is a prerequisite to be spiritual and happy. In other words, you cannot be whole unless you are in good health.
The first step (branch) is detachment or restraint. Think about that. The basis on which all happiness comes is to control ourselves. WOW! This means skipping dessert and concerts, not shopping, abstinence and not caring who wins the game is the foundation to happiness. If that is true, no wonder there are so many unhappy people. Can this really be true? It is interesting that all religions speak of restraint. I am most familiar with Christianity - where the ten commandments speak of "Thou shall not".
Are we really happier when we control ourselves? Let's look at a few examples. When we party, the enjoyment is in the moment. However, the "hangover" - literally or otherwise may last a day or longer. Desserts tastes great. However, we regret the calories and our indulgence for a lot longer. Winning in competition is also a moment's pleasure. There is always a next event. Who won last year's championships? They are long forgotten.
Our bodies are built to help us understand restraint is important. In my previous posts, I wrote on the long term negative impacts from inflammatory foods. I find it interesting when people say, "I can't give up (insert here - sugar, yeast, dairy, liquor, processed food, etc). I bite my tongue from saying, "Well then you can't be happy." According to Yoga, this is true. Our immune system communicates to us through pain and suffering when we go overboard. The solution is to listen and apply restraint.
Speaking is a great way to practice restraint. Only say things that are positive and true. Silence should be the only alternative. Don't allow yourself to criticize. Over time, you will stop being critical. Restraint with your speech will assist with restraint elsewhere in your life.
Emotional detachment is equally important to peace and happiness. We have all heard the line "If you love something, set it free." That is emotional detachment. It does not mean stop caring. It means to not disassociate with the emotion. In the book, Guru in You, by Yogi Cameron Alborzian - an ex top male model turned Yogi, he discusses in detail the process of detachment. Here is a man who was the world's top model and used to all the spoils that go with that life style. He was living a life of excess and transformed to a life of balance and restraint. He wrote something in his book that explained emotional attachment to me. Imagine going to a game and watching your home team without caring who wins. Try it! What's amazing, with practice, you will be happier when you emotionally detach.
The second branch (step) of Yoga is observation with compassion. Once you detach, you become more observant. When you free your mind you become more objective. Objectivity looks past ugly and pretty doesn't distort the truth. The real world opens up. Through observation, you feel connected to others and nature. You realize the beauty of the world everywhere. This has been the most fun part of my transformation.
Listening is observing with your ears. Listen without judgement or comment. The key is listen to learn. Too often we listen to respond (i.e. refute, recommend, comment or edit). Detach from your thoughts and needs and free yourself to listen and understand others. Practice this by having conversations with people who have different points of view (try politics). Seek them out and just listen. Ask questions: probe; understand their point of view. Don't comment on their views. Instead, say, "I understand your position. Thank you for sharing." Truly listening, without judgement, will lessen your stress and improve your life.
Compassion is necessary to observe things as they really are. True compassion is to put yourself in others' position. See their position, listen to their views, feel their emotions, appreciate their circumstances. Don't judge, try to change, or reinforce. Just be compassionate. Again, when this is done, beauty is much more apparent. There is a great Yoga sutra that explains dealing with others:
* Be kind to the friendly
* Be compassionate to the unfriendly
* Delight in the virtuous
* Disregard the wicked
The third step of Yoga is discipline or practice. Discipline brings consistency, quality and dependability. Three important aspects to a fulfilling life. You cannot get better at something unless you work in a disciplined fashion to improve. The London Olympics are going on as I write this blog. Think of the discipline of all these athletes - from swimming to gymnasts to track. Each, tumble, stride and stroke has been practiced, evaluated and improved for hours a day over many years. This discipline helps manage life as well. Think of monks as life's olympians. Practicing to be the best at pursuit of peace and happiness.
According to Ayurveda beliefs, there are five areas of discipline to have a healthy and happy life - Sleep, Diet, Exercise, Relaxation and Meditation. (These five areas will be discussed further in a later post.) Do you brush your teeth daily? Why? What else do you do EVERY day? Why? What should you do every day? Why don't you? What are the obstacles? Yoga and Ayurveda force you to analyze your daily habits and rearrange to include these five practices to achieve happiness.
The first three branches of Yoga focus on dealing with the outside world. You can dramatically improve your health and happiness through detachment, observation with compassion and practice. Steps 4-8 of Yoga focus on different levels of pursuing inner peace. It is necessary to be able to control outside variables before you can find the truth within.
No comments:
Post a Comment