Surrender

This discussion talks about ideas of surrender and devotion and what it means to you. There are many ways to offer. Learn what the Yoga Sutras say about this, then be guided into a sacred meditation. Seep in the ancient wisdom of the sutras.

Transcript

Welcome.

Find your way into a comfortable seat and you can leave your eyes opened or closed for this part of your practice.

Remember early on in the beginning of the sutras,

Patanjali gave us a definition of yoga.

He said,

Yoga is the practice of not identifying with our thought patterns basically.

And up until now you've gotten a lot of definitions about what is the mind and the categories of the mind.

And now we get into how to make it all work.

And this is sutra 1.

12.

And this sutra says basically,

To make it work,

You must have practice,

Diligent practice and non-attachment to your results.

So there's two words here,

Abhyasa,

Which means practice and vairagya,

Which means detachment.

One says practice,

Practice,

Practice,

Practice,

Practice,

Be committed,

Be committed,

Go,

Go,

Go.

And the other one says,

Let go,

Let go,

Let go,

Let go,

Let go.

So they kind of contradict each other.

But I don't know if you've noticed,

Yoga is full of these emerging opposites.

This is a perfect example.

The practice part is important because Patanjali knows and recognizes that for anything to happen,

We need to be committed.

And that means setting a time every day to meditate,

To get up early so you can meditate,

Set time aside to study the practice of yoga to study yourself,

To not easily abandon it when things come up,

Make it a priority.

And then vairagya is the non-attachment side because our minds will be so busy and often talk us out of our practice and complain and have opinions and likes and dislikes.

So on the surface,

Vairagya means not attaching to all of these thoughts and not letting them override our deeper desire to practice and to evolve.

And then vairagya also suggests that even as we practice,

Maybe in the beginning,

We don't see the results we want,

Right?

Our ego gets attached to seeing results.

And vairagya reminds us to be patient and to just trust the process and to let go of your attachment to the results of your practice.

This is actually something I say pretty often during my yoga classes when I'm encouraging students to get into big poses or to push a little further,

I say something like,

You know,

Do your very,

Very best on your mat,

But let go of the results.

And so if you can wrap your mind around that when you're flowing through a practice,

It'll bring you a lot more peace and ease and you will enjoy your practice more because you won't be so attached to the results of your practice.

Also think about doing this in real life.

So in any action that you're taking,

Anything that you do,

There's a reason you're doing it and be committed to doing that single thing whether you're at work or dealing with in a relationship,

Dealing with a loved one,

Doing chores around the house,

Anything at all,

Bring your fullest attention to it,

Be committed to it to what you're doing,

And release the results.

So do your very best and let go of the expectations and see what happens.

Just play around with it.

They say there is only one asana.

And that single asana is the relationship that you have with yourself.

Remember asana is to sit and be still to abide in.

It's learning how to be comfortable with ourselves.

And it requires us to have to have quite a bit of surrender and quite a bit of effort.

And keep in mind that it doesn't mean you have to do a physically intensive class.

There are many ways to practice this to have both effort and surrender.

Maybe you feel more devotional and so meditating and chanting or going to church speaks to you,

Speaks to your devotional heart.

Maybe you're more intellectual.

And maybe you like to read the texts and study the sutras,

Read the Bible or the Bhagavad Gita.

And if the physical expression of yoga helps you to feel more connected,

Like you've dedicated to yourself,

Then getting on your mat and doing some sort of asana,

Maybe a combination of all of them,

Which remember is raja yoga,

Is what connects you.

So ask yourself,

How do you feel like you've dedicated the space to your true self and see what comes up.

Remember,

Hold strong,

But let go.

Thank you and we'll move on into our meditation.

Settling into your body.

If you're seated in a chair or on a cushion or on the ground,

Feel where your bottom is touching the floor or the support.

Feel the weight of gravity gently pulling you down into the earth.

Feel how your body is upright but not stiff.

Your eyes falling shut.

Your hands resting easily on your knees or thighs.

Just taking a moment to feel the full weight of your being here.

Now allow your attention to rest on your breath as it goes in and out.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

Still feeling as you breathe in the background the weight of your body,

This awareness of your body here.

When these thoughts arise,

Don't fight them,

Just label them with a blanket word like thinking.

You can actually say thinking in your mind.

And in the very act of labeling it thinking,

We notice it and we glide back into the breath,

Into that simple bare awareness tension on the breath.

Keeping this light simple attention on your inhales and exhales.

No need to intensely focus,

Just resting the attention on the breath.

If you happen to go off in thought for a long period of time,

When you notice,

Don't judge,

Just simply label it thinking and come back.

I'll just move into a little bit of a contemplative variety of meditation.

I want you to notice any smells.

Is there anything you can smell in this atmosphere,

In this room you're in,

The space you're in?

Maybe you're in an area where there's plants or food that's been cooked.

Or maybe it's just a very neutral kind of smelling environment.

Just notice how very active smelling connects you to this moment.

And now noticing touch.

In this case we're not going to pick anything up with our hands,

But our legs,

Our feet,

Our bottom is touching a seat and the air in this room is touching the pores of our body.

Our whole body is able to sense a temperature.

Can you feel that?

This boundary of outside and inside.

Now noticing sound.

There is an entire soundscape around you.

You can hear maybe your own breathing.

You can hear things that are near,

Subtle or loud.

And you can hear things that are low,

Low,

Low.

And now notice what you taste.

Taste can be interesting if you're not actually eating something.

Can you feel the act of tasting in your mouth?

And now as the eyes are shut,

Just noticing any light colors.

Maybe just observing the darkness behind your closed eyelids.

Just take a moment to appreciate ourselves as a sensing organism.

A breathing,

Sensing and then bringing your hands together in front of your heart.

May the benefit of our mindfulness and our awareness practice bring benefit to all beings.

Namaste.

Reviews

Love the tone and tempo of this meditation. I also like the message of contemplation, it gave me a starting point. Namaste 🙏🏻

Beautiful, thanks you

Thank you