An Evolving Poly- Eco- Yoga Humanifesto, from Pegasus at the Balance
First Deep Breath*
Yogis of the world unite and take your yoga off the mat and into the wider world!!
Yoga practice can at its best grant us insight into consciousness itself. If that consciousness often appears distracted by difficult thoughts and emotions, isn’t it reflecting the planet at this point in time? Yes, practice can be helpful in these times, yet more essential to these times is yoga off the mat than on.
The planet is on fire. If all we do to recognize that fact is 108 sun salutations a day, we fail to honor the earth’s current needs. Not only are we failing her needs, we are failing ourselves, our family, friends, and neighbors too.
Taking on the life of a modern yogi leads inevitably to simplifying how one lives. An unfulfilling job might have to be abandoned, a lesser-paying fulfilling one taken on, despite belt-tightening results.
A solitary life might have to morph into a shared life—roommates, co-housing, conscious neighborhoods are possibilities. There seem to be growing internet-based “communities” rallying to support each other in new ways.
Yoga practice was never meant to be an solipsistic activity, though it can be practiced alone. True practice will reveal how we are all interconnected, despite our self-constructed walls.
The clock has run out for yogis to continue posturing (as if putting the leg behind the head were the sign of an advanced yogi) and meditating (as if sitting and thinking of nothing rendered one enlightened). The time for yogic action is NOW.
“Action is movement with intelligence. The world is filled with movement. What the world needs is more conscious movement, more action.” B.K.S. Iyengar
*Swami Rama of the Himalayas was known to say “if everyone took twenty deep breaths a day, the whole world would be transformed.”
…to be continued, please weigh in.
