Letting ourselves be grounded in what is helps us avoid unhappiness: the artificial unhappiness when we imagine things are worse than they are, and the unhappiness when we imagine things are better than they are, and are disappointed.
We can choose how we view the world–at every moment, we must practice choosing over and over again. The good news is that this means we have a lot of opportunity to shift our habits.
| +10 | Three-part breath, Regular, Vrksasana > Virabhadrasana I, Parsvottanasana > Utthan Pristhana |
| +30 | Uttkatasana, Parivrtta Uttkatasana > Parivrtta Parsvakonasana, Hasta Padangusthasana I > Ardha Chandrasana > Parsvakonasana > Trikonasana |
| +50 | Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Backbend), Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Regular, Thigh Stretch), Setubandhasana (Urdhva Dhanurasana), Hanumanasana |
| +70 | Agnistambhasana, Ardha Gomukhasana, Supta Padangusthasana, Jathara Parivartanasana, Shavasana |
A practice (should take 20–40 minutes depending on how fast you move):
Some contemplations (only work with one during a particular practice):
Our illusions come in five varieties, some of which are painful, others painless.
The important thing to remember in all cases, though, is that they are, ultimately, illusions. Our imagining winning the lottery may make us happy in the short term, but in the long term we will likely be hurt when we do not win. Remembering a departed loved one may seem painful initially, but if they passed after a long illness, perhaps we will come to see that it was a blessing that they were released from suffering.
Ultimately, though, these states of pain and pleasure are transitory. They are not our true state of being. When we vest importance in them, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.
We are most effective when we are grounded in the real world.
We’re not the mistakes we make, we’re not the successes we have, we are something infinitely more special.
When we’re not resident in the Self, we reside in our fantasies.
This is really stating the antithesis of the prior sutra–if we’re not able to rein in our imagination, to distinguish it from reality, we cannot reside in our Self. It could literally be no other way–either we reside in truth, and can connect to our Self, or we reside in fantasy, and must necessarily be disconnected from our Self.
This idea, that yoga is the practice of seeing things as they are, of distinguishing between our desires and reality, can be interpreted in a way that suggests that our imagination–which is often an expression of our desires–are wrong. I take exception to that idea–the power of imagination has changed the world. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, and with that dream he worked to change the world–but I believe he always remembered that the dream was not the way the world was, and when he acted, he acted from a place of being grounded in truth. I believe this is where he was able to find compassion even for those who tormented him.
Simply put, to be effective in realizing our desires, we have to distinguish between what is, and what we want. Without this distinction, we cannot succeed, because you cannot navigate from the place you are at to the place you wish to be–you’re reading the map incorrectly. You’re trying to get from Belgium to New York City, but you’re actually starting out in Weehawken.
But never abandon your imagination. This is the engine of desire, of transformation.