Day 118 – Rolf addresses the thought (and it did pop up in my head) that we must repress everything and live a rigid live of denial to walk the line of balance: “Avidya is believing that the endless distracting thoughts are who we are. Vidya is the understanding that we are the quiet witness who is present when we hold a posture or sit in meditation. We were never mant to be our thoughts–and that includes thos thoughts that are attached to pleasure.”
How does one overcome the attachment to pleasure, like beer, ice cream, working out, materialism, etc.? Rolf advises: “We don’t need to repress our reactions to experience; rather, we simply need to systematically develop our relationship with the witness, with the expansive sky…cultivate distractions or direction, resistance or peace, a sense of who we are not and who we are not.”
This goes back to the inner voice that says, “This feels good,” or “This is work,” or “This makes me feel horrible.” Witnessing where I am in each part of my day without attachment, both on and off the mat, is vidya.
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