Day 212 – Today’s reading is about “objects of our desire” and its bed partner, aversion. Rolf describes this in practice of yoga in its early stages whereby “we desire the fruits of a good practice.” Shavasana? Oh, yes. Yin? Oh, yes. Nidra yoga? Oh, yes. We are fear (in this new thang) looking like we don’t know what we are doing, or fear “falling over in balancing postures.” Rolf writes: “Desire and aversion stimulate us to work hard.”Moreover, Rolf concludes: “Eventually we experience neither desire nor aversion, we just practice.” And, as in the opening quote, the objective of our desire and aversion has brought about “the power of the Self, to deveop the capacity latent in man.” Yoga is, indeed, that powerful, and it has many layers and nooks and crannies to explore. The journey into the Self is not a short one.
In this reading, I consider several new ideas. Firstly, I am a hard worker, but I wonder whether and when hard work is an action taken out of aversion or desire. When do I work hard without attachment to the object of my aversion or desire? Does this part of the weariness I have felt for several years?
Secondly, having achieved many positive affects, have I also felt the other side of the coin over the years with my yoga practice, work, family, etc.? As I experiment into my nutrition, habitual thought patterns, and movement, is this lesson part and parcel to all of it? Certainly, I have grappled with a sustainable personal yoga practice of my own for 2 years now. What style or program to follow in the morning? Should I do a flow or not? Maybe I should “detox?”
Lastly, because I am still figuring out things, todays reading and the questions I have posed myself regarding aversion and desire and what brings me to the mat each morning early offer me opportunities to dapple deeper in the yoga philosophy, which I find so invaluable in examining the deeper reasons I continue to practice after all these years, the mysterious process I cannot seem to describe to others, even though I teach yoga. Yes, yoga is good for you, but how? Yes, yoga is good for me, but how? The journey to the Self is a long one.
space365 