(Photo by Rineshkumar Ghirao, courtesy of Unsplash)
One of the root causes of suffering for us all is the illusion that we are each a separate body/mind. On one level, we are separate and we must function that way in our daily lives. But to understand ourselves only this way prevents us from experiencing the ground of being we all share that gives our lives meaning and purpose.
As separate beings, we automatically feel insecure and incomplete, and our lives become a relentless effort to acquire and achieve whatever we think will bring us security and fulfillment.
We drive ourselves to look good, win admiration, and ultimately to feel worthy of love, and we end up competing with each other instead of supporting each other. It’s this same dynamic on a large scale, that compels countries to compete with each other for resources, build up their arsenals of weapons, and either strengthen or attempt to enlarge their borders.
Yoga is a way of life as well as a practice, intended to work with the body/mind to experience the spiritual presence that lies at the heart of our being, our essential nature. When pursued with sincerity and dedication, Yoga practice reveals an innate sense of peace, our connection to the whole web of life, and gives rise to a natural flow of love and compassion for each other, and for all of life.
I really enjoyed reading these words below from Dr. Ela Manga in an article entitled “The Illusion of the Separate Self.” In the article she writes:
“Consider the life force of the breath. We share a vast ocean of air, exchanging molecules continuously with one another, across borders, across species, across time. The very molecules that are exchanged in our lungs and cells today have passed through the bodies of trees, animals and other human beings from the beginning of time.
“The physical body itself is created from what we consume. A single meal carries within it the labor of countless hands, the generosity of soil, sun, rain, and seed. The genetic code that orchestrates our existence arises from an immense ancestral pool. Even our mitochondria, the engines of our life force, carry DNA inherited from a common maternal ancestor, linking us through deep evolutionary time. More incredible still: the human body contains more bacterial organisms than human cells. And were it not for inhibitory neurons in the nervous system, we might feel one another’s physical pain as our own.”
The more deeply we awaken to this truth, the more naturally we begin to see ourselves in one another. Our practice is not simply a way to find peace within ourselves, but to loosen the boundaries that keep us feeling separate and allow that peace to express itself as compassion, care, and a genuine sense of belonging to each other and to the whole of life.
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