Needing less
In today’s world we have become accustomed to having information at our fingertips. This has its upsides and downsides. It’s personally made me a lot more impatient and less present in my relationships, not only to others but also in the context of the natural unfolding and evolution of my own person. Have you ever stopped to observe yourself when you are anxious to learn something, need something or curious about a specific topic? What do you lean to when that arises?
Not knowing is part of the process of being human. We relearn this daily in our yoga practice. We slowly evolve and grow one asana, one vinyasa at a time. For as much as we’d like to google or ask the teacher what to expect from any given posture, and how long can it take for it to come into completion, the only true answers will come out of doing and observing. There’s a sanskrit term some of you may be familiar with: parampara. Parampara is “a succession of teachers and disciples in traditional Vedic culture, also known as guru–shishya tradition ‘succession from guru to disciple’”. I find this a great approach to be applied to anything in life. To learn by spending time observing, studying, following in the footsteps of a specific person, and asking questions. In this tradition there is no skipping ahead or finding shortcuts, only patiently watching, waiting, observing and doing.
If you take that out of the yogic context and into daily life, the teacher or guru can become any given thing we are trying to pursue. In that process of becoming, or learning there is a discomfort that arises for some of us, the discomfort that lies in resisting instantly knowing, or sitting with the discomfort of not being sure.
My invitation to you all is to pause to ask yourselves ‘what do I need to find out about this specific thing and how urgent is it? Can I learn by being involved in the process moment by moment without projecting into the future, into the result?
We have such easy access to information any time we need it, but do we do it out of real need, curiosity, or out of boredom and inability to sit with not knowing, sitting with time?
What if we took this opportunity to reach out to others, learning from others versus locking ourselves into a virtual world where everything is readily available. What if we used our curiosity as a means to connect to others and to the process of becoming ourselves?
