Yoga:  At Home and On the Road

 Summer is here and chances are you may find yourself on vacation - away from the comforts of home and mat, leaving your job and other worries behind while rejuvenating at the mountains, beach, or in some foreign clime. 

 If we took a survey of the top-ten reasons to take a holiday, some typical answers might be, "for a change of scenery," or, "I need to unwind - a change will do me good." What type of change are we looking for? 

 Is it possible to return to our workaday lives with a sense of renewal even after all the planning, packing, and worrying over expense that go into the typical vacation - or, is there an elusive something that we neglect to bring back with the seashells and sandy towels? 

 The only thing you can't leave behind when you leave for vacation is your 'self'. What happens upon return from even the most pampered vacation, is that the ego, with it's likes and dislikes, judgements and sensitivity to stress, remains the same. As soon as we are back to our hectic schedules, we become unbalanced and wish ourselves away again! What is missing from our vacation and our lives is the type of change that is permanent; the change of self-transformation. 

 In Sanskrit, the sense of self or "I-sense" is termed asmita. Asmita is listed as one of the five kleshas, or causes of affliction and can be generally interpreted as the illusion that we are separate; that our ego is who we are. Yoga asserts that our sense of ego is a delusion, and one of the causes of human suffering. 

 How do we know that our sense of ego is a delusion? One way is to list everything with which we identify and meditate on the reality of that identification. (Are you really your job?  Does the role of 'Mother' fully describe you?) 

 Using Yoga as our guide, and the freshness of mind that seems to accompany new sights in a new town, we are provided with an excellent opportunity to examine our beliefs about who we are while away from our familiar routine. 

 There are certain vacations which force you to challenge your self-image. The first time I traveled overseas, I spent four months in a little fishing village on Spain's Costa Brava. When I returned home, my sense of identity had shifted dramatically. This was a powerful journey for me, as it was the first time I understood that if I was raised in another culture, speaking another language, I would not be thinking the same thoughts or holding the same beliefs. I never thought more about what it meant to culturally be "American" than during this time away from my country. This process of examining what I took for granted to be "me", sowed the seed that eventually found resonance in Yoga.

 Of course, it isn't necessary to travel further than your own backyard to experience an awareness of the assumptions we hold about our identity. Looking at your hometown with the eyes of a visitor from another culture, how would you explain such things as a high crime rate, or run-down houses? Conversely, how would you explain the display of wealth in some neighborhoods? Would you find yourself being defensive or derisive of our culture through your tourist eyes? (From which country did you imagine yourself coming, and why?!) 

Reading a newspaper published with views completely opposing those you hold dear, can be an illuminating experience. Examine your breathing, noting where emotional resistance tenses your body. Practice breathing into this resistance; relaxing into your own discomfort. Every time we try to control some aspect of our lives, we create resistance. This resistance usually begins on a mental level, then finds its way into your body, creating physical tension. Over a lifetime, this pattern becomes ingrained in our physical being, blocking energy flow and increasing the potential for dis-ease to enter our lives. While a relaxing vacation can do much to restore our sense of well-being, it may be more important to address the best way to handle the other 50 weeks of our lives with ease and grace. 

 Most students of Yoga have heard the expression:  Neti, Neti. Not this, not that. We are not this belief, we are not that thought. We are something beyond language, beyond the culture in which we were raised, beyond any mental construct. Bringing this awareness to our lives at every moment will serve us well, wherever we travel.   

*The idea for this article inspired, in part, by a talk given by Neshit Patel, of the Himalayan Institute of New York City.

 Book Reviews

 Vacationing at home...

Quantum Psychology -How Brain Software Programs You and Your World, (Robert Anton Wilson, New Falcon Publications, 1990). The always engaging and controversial Wilson asks us to challenge our belief systems, or "reality tunnels," through various individual and group exercises. 

 Krishnamurti, Reflections on the Self, J. Krishamurti, Open Court, 1997.  Derived from various stages of the life and teachings of Krishnamurti and his ‘pathless path’, this book addresses issues of the self in Krishnamurti's almost Socratic dialogues. 

Taking it on the road...

From Here to Nirvana, (Anne Cushman and Jerry Jones, Riverhead Books; Reissue edition, January 1999). Plan your pilgrimage to India, or just dream about it, using this often hilarious guide to what the authors describe as a "swan-dive into the unknown."

Yoga Vacations:  A Guide to International Yoga Retreats, (Annalisa Cunningham, Avalon Travel Publishing, 1999). This guide helps discriminate between yoga vacations and retreats, helping you to design your perfect Yoga getaway!