Two paths diverge in a woods

I decided to start tracking some of my thoughts that I have put on paper for various assignments. Here is a response to reading the first two chapters of "The heart of Yoga". I am reading the the book for the 200 hour yoga teacher training class.

 After reading chapter one of The heart of Yoga I was surprised of how broad of a concept yoga actually is. So much so, that I am certain that what we have talked about in class and also what the book talks about doesn’t even tip-toe on the cascade of meaning and history behind yoga.  Yoga is a translated term so I am curious as to what behind the concept is lost in the translation. Not only that, yoga can mean different things on a personal level. Each individual has a personal make-up which alters a perspective of what the term means to themselves, and on a global level. Not only this - there is no one wrong perspective.  For instance imagine two people, you and I are sitting at a table drinking tea. In the center is a teapot. I see the teapot from my perspective; it does not appear to have a handle because it is obstructed from view. You see the teapot from your perspective where the teapot has a handle. We both have a view, it is personal to us. I am not wrong in saying that the teapot doesn’t have a handle. That existence is true to me; however your truth suggests that my reality is wrong because your reality the teapot has a handle.  Both perspectives are wrong to the other person while simultaneously being correct to the perspective of the party involved. Not only this, it is impossible to see how we each may feel about this teapot. Maybe it reminds me of my grandmother. What little I know of yoga is that it is a practice of focus while simultaneously being very complicated and challenging to balance idea and realities. Yoga seems to be a practice where the journey is the component that is important; “to attain what was previously unattainable”. Yoga is a practice where you are striving to achieve something and to better yourself. The unattainable is a new “you”. Yoga is a tool that acts like a needle on a compass; yoga points in a direction.

Being balanced and open are key components of the philosophy of yoga.  Like Robert Frost’s poem The road not taken:

“ Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference “

 This can be connected to the quote from The heart of Yoga chapter 2: “We can never be sure of the fruit of our actions, that is why it is better to become slightly detached from our expectations and to pay more attention to the actions themselves”.  Becoming detached is challenging in that one must also simultaneously keep the balance between not carrying attachment, being present, and accepting.  This brings forth an idea of stepping outside your own box. The challenge of taking a step outside your comfort zone and having the courage to be open to whatever possibility is out there, and to learn from whatever experience, and “being” that occurs. Part of learning is seeing (drastra). Part of seeing is taking a step without expectation or bias towards what occurs in the present moment; part of the challenge is to not be occluded by ourselves /our ego.