Finding your path in yoga philosophy

I had a really uncomfortable situation in our 200 hour teacher training last week. It was the closing circle, and as I was offering some encouragement to the group, one of the new graduates abruptly interrupted me. They were offended by a word I used. I had been encouraging everyone to lean into yoga philosophy and to find a text or a teaching that could support them as they step into teaching. In trying to explain that we do not have to believe or relate to everything we read, I used the word inconsistent.

Yoga is not one tradition! It has developed over a vast area over a vast period of time. 

In hindsight, not my best choice of word. What I really wanted to say is that yoga is vast and complex. It contains many streams of thought, and you do not need to make sense of it all at once. You can find a place that feels like home for a while, stay there, and let it nurture you. Some of you might love the colour and story of the Bhagavad Gita. Others might be more drawn to the intellectual challenge of the Yoga Sutras.

The reason for this difference is that these texts are rooted in related but fundamentally different philosophies.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are tightly packed little statements, each like a zip file that needs a commentary in order to open up. They are aligned with the Samkhya philosophy. In Samkhya, the world is made of two fundamental realities. There is purusha, pure consciousness, and there is prakriti, everything else, including body and mind. Ishvara, or God, is described here as a higher being. This vision works well if your own faith imagines God as distinct and separate. The Sutras are precise and rigorous, but also abstract, which is why they fascinate some people and leave others cold.

The Bhagavad Gita, by contrast, comes from the great epic Mahabharata and leans towards Advaita Vedanta. Here we meet Krishna, embodied on earth as a mentor to Arjuna. The Gita reminds us again and again that Atman, the individual self, exists within Brahman, the whole, and that Brahman also exists within us. Divinity and humanity are intractably connected. It is a more relational, colourful text, with dialogue, imagery and story, and it reassures us that the self cannot be destroyed because we are not simply these temporary bodies.

Samkhya versus Advaita vedanta- two of the philosophies of yoga, dualist and non-dual

Both texts are extraordinary, but they speak in different languages. Some people will connect immediately with one, others with the other. Neither path is wrong, and both remind us that yoga is not a neat, tidy package but a living, diverse tradition.

So why am I sharing this slightly uncomfortable story from training. Partly because it reminded me that language matters and that even when we are trying to be inclusive, not everyone will feel included. Partly because it showed me that people will criticise whatever you say. But mostly because it reminded me that yoga itself is incredible. It offers movement, breathwork, meditation, and a philosophy that is at once rigorous and poetic. You do not need to master it all. You just need to begin somewhere.

On a personal note...

And on a personal note, I realised that my years of practice meant I could stay steady even as the feedback turned personal. It did not upset me as much as it once would have because the yoga acts as a mirror and over the years if practice I have had time to get to know myself well. 

If you are struggling to make sense of the philosophy, my invitation is simple. Start with a text that draws you in, and let it open the door. If you are struggling to start a meditation practice my advice is this- drop any techniques of long sitting practices you have been told about; and start to get to know yourself a little better. Just as if you are spending time with a friend.

Notice when your voice turns to criticism, and see if you can step into the shoes of a friend, soften your gaze towards yourself.

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In my courses we explore philosophy in the Creative Sequencing course and 300hr mainly.