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Thank God for Handstands!
After a young, yet full life of high-octane adventures ranging from hanging off rock walls in Yosemite, California to alpine ski racing, the path to true commitment fell into my range of vision. The yoga practice illuminated a threefold path of commitment. And last year it manifested itself in the form of handstand.
At first that may sound somewhat simple, or even immature. But I am committed to my handstand - much to the dismay of my girlfriend. However, over this last year I have come to realise how clearly this symbolises the entire spectrum of my commitments, and it has helped me focus on the big picture of life.
Commitment can be such a daunting word. As a yogi, a teacher, an employee, and a boyfriend I often find myself contemplating my own commitments. And if I'm not careful this train of thought quickly becomes all encompassing and sometimes overwhelming. In the past I have to turned on the T.V. or listened to music to help take my mind to softer, less heavy subjects. However recently with guide of my teachers, John Friend in particular, I have been given some techniques and wonderful advice which has helped me become more clear with commitment itself.
The first tier of commitment is setting a spiritual intention, known as a san kalpa in the yoga tradition. San kalpa can help direct us to the highest level of commitment. This aligns our commitments with that of nature. By opening up to something bigger than ourselves and dropping into the larger, spiritual current of life we are supported. San means "with", and kalpa means "thought". Therefore, we set forth in our yoga with a thought. Already at this point we have made a commitment of joining our mind with our body. A deep connection has been made. However, what is our spiritual intention? What are we choosing as our "thought" in this moment.
This brings me to the second tier of commitment: Disclipline. Another heavy word that can bring a daunting energy and guilty complex to some yoga mats. However, what if we looked at discipline as simply "knowing what you want." The great philosopher Krishnamurti wrote "If you listen deep enough, there is no decision". It has been my experience that during meditation and asana practice clear insights drift into my mind's view. If we sit with ourselves and give time for the quiet and the space, then the decision we want can feel like no decision at all. It becomes clear and obvious.
The third tier of commitment is adhikara, the fire of aspiration. I have had the most experience of this as a student. I have learned many things, but realize most of what I have learned and accomplished has come down the fire of my aspiration. John Friend refers to this in his mantra of "How bad do you want it?" I tend to learn things that I really want to learn. Again this may sound simple.
This past year I attended a seminar with my yoga teacher and he demonstrated Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand) in the middle of the room then folded into Padmasana (lotus pose). On that beautiful morning I was struck with the fire of aspiration to do it myself. For the past year since then, I have found myself up at 6 am practicing handstands. On many of those mornings I thought to myself, why am I doing this? If I can do a handstand so what?! Yet each morning it became more and more familiar, like I was supposed to be there, upside down with my body in stretched to the limit. As I gripped my fingers strongly on the mat and my forearms became magnetized like roots of a tree, I thought of my girlfriend. I thought of how caring she has been to me, and in that moment I was charged with energy, I was able to embrace her support and give my pose as a gesture of my commitment to her. I was able to make my arms strong and my heart soft at the same time. As I learned to hold the pose without the wall in the middle of the room, I faced the fear of falling, yet with practice it too became almost natural. Allowing myself to open up and connect to something more than myself gave me the feeling that anything is possible.
In this life we face great challenges, day in and day out. As we grow through life we are constantly faced with making commitments, and challenged by keeping them true.
But what if we had the discipline to truly know what we want. And what if we aligned the things we consciously decide we want to a burning fire of aspiration to attain them? What if we then opened ourselves up to the divine current of spirit, the graceful and all powerful life force through a spiritual intention? Would we move faster and more easily towards our commitments? I think so. But for 2006 I'm working on the one armed version… so I'll have to get back to you next year with more evidence.
Patrick Creelman
Re-printed with permission from Namaskar, the quarterly journal of the Yoga Society of Hong Kong. For more information visit Yoga Hong Kong
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