Second Deep Breath
Yogis of the world unite and take your yoga off the mat and into the wider world!!
The Humanifesto continues:
Most major cities worldwide are suffering the effects of gross income disparity. There are homeless hungry people everywhere. This situation only exacerbates problems of physical and mental health that result from food insecurity, racial and gender inequality, and the enormous stress of climate change causing worldwide migration.
Add to this gloomy picture the spectacle of despotic regimes refusing to honor the rights of women to education, and the rights of whole populations to their indigenous languages and the rights of citizens to safety from state-imposed violence (and it IS state-imposed violence when the state will not regulate weapons).
Pegasus simply suggests that yogis spend equal amounts of time practicing (yoga, meditation, pranayama, etc.) as meeting their neighbors, seeing that as many elders and children nearby have what they need, feeding when possible those who are hungry and sheltering when possible those who are without shelter. Sharing the healing practices of yoga asana, pranayama, meditation and plant-based yogic/ayurvedic diet with others, it should go without saying, ALWAYS has benefits. Yet, now it is not enough.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Chapter II.33 commentary and translation by B.K.S. Iyengar: “The internal measuring and balancing process…is in some respects the key to why yoga practice actually works, why it has mechanical power to revolutionize our whole being. It is why Asana is not gymnastics, why pranayama is not deep breathing, why Dhyana is not self-induced trance, why yama is not just morality. … We are taught nowadays that the miracle of the world’s ecosystem is its balance, a balance which modern man is fast destroying by deforestation, pollution, over-consumption. This is because when man becomes unbalanced, he seeks to change not himself but his environment, in order to create the illusion that he is enjoying health and harmony.”
…to be continued, please weigh in.
