Movement and Observer

Have you noticed that we are always on the move? Physical movement, mental movement... as if we can't stay still and steady. And even when we happen to exist without 'action' it is as if something is bothering us. As if our self alone is not enough for us, seems too 'small', 'uninteresting', 'unpleasant', 'uncomfortable' to hold our interest. And so, we begin to embellish and enrich the moment with stimuli by resorting to the thousands of aids that our society so generously offers (screens, relationships, substances....).

Instead of our yoga practice helping us overcome this tendency for speed, it often seems to adopt it. We find it difficult to endure even the simplest pose for more than a few breaths. We are comfortable with intense and fast movement, reflecting our inner state, our current noisy house. And even when we do settle into a posture, instead of experiencing it, we often make unconscious small physical and mental mechanical movements. What (or who) are we trying to escape from?

Try really staying still in a posture and notice the feeling in it... physical, emotional, mental and energetical. What is happening with the muscles, with the breathing, with the temperatures, with the thoughts, with the heartbeat? This observation is the 'action'. And it doesn't need anything complex, as we are just observing -but not interacting- with what is already there... In fact, it's not really about the outer posture but about the deeper inner essence that accompanies it. Yoga, in its traditional application, is not so much concerned with the shape but with the awareness of the self that can arise from it.

It is this search for identification with the observer rather than the action that teaches us to exist peacefully with ourselves as we are, without unnecessary additions, expectations.... It inspires us to value simplicity and not to feel the need to adorn the moment with props (screens, thoughts, contractions...) to charm us into giving it our presence. Practice in its most essential form is the ultimate reminder that spirituality is more about letting go than accumulating. If I don't take off the clothes that cover me, how can I truly see who I am? If I don't turn off the noise, how can I truly listen?

To learn, add a little each day.
To become wise, subtract a little each day.
Lao Tzu