Fooled by Form and Other Thoughts on the Journey to Self-Mastery - Part 1

     "Mastery of the body is the gateway to mastery of the mind"  - BKS Iyengar Light on Life

Yoga is a path I stumbled upon on my way somewhere else. It attracted me because it expanded on a mind-body concept that I'd gained from ballet without a promise of tutus or toe shoes. It offered something better: Freedom. The Cliffnotes version of yoga might be as follows: Mastering yoga precepts brings the discipline to master postures, which leads to mastering the breath, which leads to mastering thoughts and desires, which leads to one-pointed focus, which leads to supreme stillness that leads to self-realization. Mastering anything takes a lifetime of practice, discipline, and commitment. 

Most of us have encountered the idea of mastery at some point in our life. We are driven to become proficient at something in hopes of some reward.  As children, our first reward is usually some form of acceptance or love. Smile. Pick up your toys. Say 'thank you,' and master the social skills your culture demands and you gain acceptance into your tribe. School rewards your mastering the skills the 'system' deems important to becoming an active member of your community. Employers reward you with raises for mastering the skills the 'corporation' figures will give them the most return on their investment. Like Pavlov's dog, we learn very quickly that if we do something 'they' want we get a treat. 

We have been trained well, and yet the process of modern existence has distanced us further and further away from our connection to our own body. It's wild to consider that America's Puritanical beginnings have nothing over the digital society of today in its ability to isolate us from our own skin, but I'm beginning to believe it. Whatever we think we need these days takes on some form outside ourselves. It's beginning to get dangerous where we don't even think for ourselves. As former Harvard Business Review editor, Nicolas Carr asserts in his latest novel, The Glass Cage: Automation and Us. 

Iyengar Yoga is not an ascetic practice of denying the body or the material world. Being part of a household, neighborhood, or community are all opportunities towards self-mastery. The simple duties of cooking and cleaning can become wonderful exercises in mindfulness. However, by living at the speed of society these days, we have become automatons. BKS Iyengar says in Light on Life, 'They move from bed to car to desk to car to couch to bed, but there's no awareness in their movement, no intelligence."  We continue doing the same thing in order to attain some nebulous prize that promises to gratify our ego. What we discover is that no matter how much we get it's never enough. Reverend Jaganath Carrera explains in his book Inside the Yoga Sutras that if we believe something will give us happiness or pleasure, we are doomed to repeat it. However, the feeling is fleeting, so the craving returns, which is why he says fulfilling desires will never eliminate them. 

...to be continued.