It comes from within.

Dear All,

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to run the Comrades marathon. Lucky because there are many who do not have the time, resources or health to contemplate this insanity.
In the history of the race, spanning back to the 1920’s, only 80 000 people have ever completed the race – a tiny percentage of the populace. Many people will have a mental image of young, fit and slim people doing it, but it’s just not true – the event has a full spectrum of all sorts, shapes and sizes. Almost anybody could run the 87 kilometre event, this I promise you – all it takes is training and willpower.
This year’s motto – “It comes from within” got me thinking about why people are willing to submit themselves to such voluntary adversity, and what we hope to achieve by this submission, because certainly only a few have a realistic chance of winning the prize money.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”
Marianne Williamson

Running twice a standard marathon (which is already a challenging physical feat) and then some, goes beyond running for health and fitness – it can be paralleled to dealing with adversity in the realm of hunger, poverty, famine, desperation, subjugation or even war. In the face of difficulty, some are defeated and some rise above it. Any of the 11 000 runners that started out on the morning of the 16th of June will tell you that they reached a point, beyond which they truly felt they could not go. One of the leading contenders experienced this as he slowed to a walk barely 8 kilometres from the finish with victory in site, but the body defeated. So what is the “it” that comes from within – is it the indomitable human spirit, mental fortitude, bloody mindedness or God, even. What makes all of these people heroes (definition: a person noted for special achievement in a particular field), and what does all of this have to do with yoga, you might say?

Well firstly, my belief is that with the right intention, any physical activity constitutes yoga (union of mind and body) - particularly where there is a focus on nostril breathing. Secondly, the tapas (to build heat and practise austerities) is not limited to Asana but comes from inside the body – one of the reasons that I am not convinced about heated room yoga.

Yoga is a set of tools and techniques (a small part of which are physical exercises)
designed to purify the body, maintain health, enable the mind to be calm, allow energy to move and facilitate a meditation practise. In the process we grow, learn about ourselves, work at the edge of our capabilities (which is very often much further than we believe), and as a by-product we may experience an increase in muscle fascia flexibility. To obsess about flexibility seems a bit silly in that context. In Ashtanga yoga, for example, there are a progression of 6 sequences that allow stronger and more flexible people to continually be challenged and work at the edge of their ability, but if someone only ever works on the Primary Series or modifies their practise to their limitations, are they not doing yoga, progressing, learning? – Of course! Some teachers won’t even teach beyond second series because they believe practitioners become egotistical if they can master challenging postures. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras only has 3 of 195 verses that mention postures, where he tells us that they should be comfortable and relaxed. He also tells us that a “successful” practise is one that is done regularly over a period of time and without attachment to the outcome. In many ways yoga has become bastardised by a fixation on physical outcome.

Yoga was designed as a spiritual practise with a physical element to it, but has become a physical practise with a spiritual element to it. This grossly understates its potential.
Genetics define capability – everyone’s edge is different and competition (like running for example) is merely an exploration of relative genetics. For the majority, it’s about our own limits. Yoga is not about doing posture X – it’s about trying to do it, changing physiologically as you try, learning from it, making the impossible possible (thanks Adidas) and defining a new limit.

Look, that’s not to say that yoga is not a great exercise regime but it offers a whole lot more to it. Maybe any exercise programme could provide the same but not many have a lineage of over 5000 years of sages that have contributed to its inventory of knowledge. The caveat though is that it’s not something you can understand intelectually – rather it is an experiential practise which you feel by doing it.
You are not reliant on teachers to take the journey because it’s your own, so always be yourself (thanks Puma). The methodology of the tools and techniques must just be understood. In Ashtanga this is the routine, progressive nature of breath focussed moving meditation, the bhandas, the dristhis - a great deal more complexity than many realise but ultimately it’s about you, and you committing to doing a regular practise.

Unfortunately teachers can also limit you, especially when they rely on 2nd hand information rather than 1st hand experience or else they limit you by taking their experience and imposing it as lore. In my mind this accounts for the recent abundance of new “styles” of yoga. Yoga simply offers some (by no means all) tools that can be used in the pursuit of transcendence – moving beyond ourselves.

Beware of fads, derivatives and unnecessary complications and search instead for simplicity, authenticity and humility. The false prophets and charlatans often shout the loudest, convinced that bluster overwhelms logics because often it does. Today we are more likely to look for enlightenment in a jar, transcendence in a pill but not many good things come without hard work. Yeah, yoga can be hard – especially in these cold, wet winter months but if it was easy why bother? We are all heroes in this practise even if we are not part of the handful that can do the full 6 series or win Comrades.
So lets just do it (thanks Nike).
All the best,

Chris and the Moksha Team