To Practice is to Serve

Pretty much everyone comes to yoga and/or meditation for specific personal benefit. We're attracted by the promises of health and happiness, it's doctor recommended, we see the shapely bodies and composed personae of dedicated practitioners, our forerunners have reported being made better by it, and it seems only natural, as this is pretty much how we're always motivated into action. What's the point in doing anything, if we don't get something out of it, right? But this attitude becomes an obstacle when applied to yoga/meditation.

As many people know, yoga translates as “union” - commonly taken as the union of mind, body and spirit. Making the body and mind preform as the mind's ego desires does not a union make. We can't think our way out of thought. And we can't force our body to do things it doesn't want to do, with any more success than we can demand obedience from a stubborn uncooperative animal.

It is, of course, possible to treat yoga asana as a fashionable form of exercise, and reap positive side effects from it. But this is not the intention which summoned yoga into being. Yoga was created by spiritual devotes. There's a world wide knowledge that the thinking/feeling/imagining mind, is not our true nature – no matter how much as it may seem like it from within the cacophony of those mental processes. Assuming that this self concept is the reality, most act as though their thoughts and desires compose their entire being; and consequently, their young are brought up, brainwashed with this notion.

When people are conditioned to this belief, by necessity, they must motivate and act from that place, until they learn better. And it's obvious that yoga is no exception. But that's just the initial entry.

Unfortunately, yoga's popularity has spawned hundreds of thousands of teachers, many of who's teachers are unaware of the bigger picture. Money motivated marketing targets the ego's desires and sensibilities. Schools grow up to serve different segments of societies, building up from a particular musical style, medical condition, combination of exercise forms, … Yoga is destined to evolve, just like everything else, but the original selfless ambitions have been largely diluted and/or forgotten. Even where it hasn't been completely discounted, it often gets little more than a splash of lip service, and is frequently addressed in such a way as to support the notion that spiritual work is done for the benefit of the individual or to serve the ego's priorities.

To get respect for knowledge in the arena of the workings of the human mind many people get degrees in psychology or philosophy. Education is great, but if it's all built upon false beliefs and extravagant theories, and then used as the language to teach through, it's obvious that problems will arise when discussing intangibles.

It's hard to get people to see outside of their preconceptions; but even more so, when our “spiritual teachers” are little more than exercise instructors with a few sweet sounding quotes or poems to share, or scholars with tomes of hand me down rational to dispense.

One can always get glimpses and grand insights, wherever they are and whatever they're doing, because knowledge is always floating in the air, eager to be inhaled. However, seeking spiritual growth from a psychologist or an aerobics instructor is like trying to eat broth with a fork. It kind of works. There's a hint of flavor and eventually, with enough tine fulls, you can get a smidgeon of nutrition. But substantial evolution requires a relatively major shift in perspective and understanding.

The same as a child needs to leave the sandbox in order to learn how to drive a car, we need to let go of what we think we know in order to clear the space for new knowledge to take root. It seems to be so uncomfortable for people to admit that they really haven't got a clue, both to others and to themselves, but it's so freeing and it creates a perfect environment for discovery and growth. But people spend their lives sensing that there's something more to all of it, yet act like a dog wanting to pick up a big juicy bone, while being unable to do so because it refuses to drop the old gnarled one in it's mouth.

To be a blank slate, a freshly tilled field, an empty vessel - this is the key to spiritual growth. All the words in the world can't compete with the potential of open awareness. So if we desire to become more than our conceived selves we need to invite and nurture a sense of selfless presence while we practice meditation and/or yoga. This way, practice time becomes an opportunity for us to be of service to a greater, nameless, faceless force - for it's through this surrendering and opening that we're able receive our most meaningful rewards.