Erin and I sipped our lattes after a tour through Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. The exhibits, in all their bright colors, strange yet compelling images, and wry insight and humor, had had the always-thrilling effect of shifting our perspectives on culture and reality.
As we sat in the ground-level cafe at the ICA, looking out over the frigid Boston Harbor, talking about art, life, and creativity, the ideas started to flow. The paths and purposes of yoga, spirituality, and self-development started to emerge and morph as we spoke, like colors in a kaleidescope.
Here's what became clear above all else: you and I, we practitioners of yoga or other spiritual disciplines, are on the path because we're excited by what lies beyond the status quo.
We're moved by the experience of transcendence and greater meaning. We want to live in and create a world that expresses more consciousness and care.
This has very interesting implications.
Greatest of all is that the definitions of yoga and spirituality break free in a thousand different ways from their own status quo.
"Say what? Yoga doesn't have a status quo." you may say. Yes, it certainly does. Consider this:
- Have you ever felt like you shouldn't be doing or saying something because it isn't "spiritual"?
- Have you ever felt like your life is split in some way between your yoga community and your "real life"?
- Have you ever felt guilty for enjoying something that your yoga teacher might frown upon?
If you love pop music, making money, passionate sex, using coarse language (most definitely not spoken in soft, spiritual tones), fine food and drink, or watching "debaucherous" dramas (Breaking Bad, anyone?), then you might have felt conflicted in some of the ways I just mentioned.
But the fact is, none of those things necessarily fall outside the boundaries of what it means to be on the path. The essence of yoga is to embrace more and more of life. This is especially true in our world, so rich with pleasure and purpose.
Why feel bad about sleeping late? Why feel like you're wasting time making your house beautiful, or working on a side project or hobby that you love?
If what you're doing is bringing you joy and expressing your love of life, then it is yoga.
This isn't to say that boundaries are not important. Indeed, there is often tremendous freedom to be found within boundaries and discipline. And making careful distinctions about life is the difference between being unconscious and awake.
What I'm calling for instead is a radical pushing out of what those boundaries are, and a reconsidering of our criteria for making those distinctions.
Questioning the spiritual status quo in this way can liberate you from feeling guilty about who you are as a westerner, and empower you enormously, because you'll have confidence in your own sincerity on the path. And what greater gift of spirituality than the experience of freedom and confidence in your own self?
What are some of the ways you practice yoga in non-traditional, boundary-breaking ways? Share them in the comments below.
