I have often read that all that is required for yoga is the ability to breathe. While breath is important to yoga and life (critical, in fact), it is not a pre-requisite to a yoga practice. The ability to breathe on one's own is a wonderful gift, but is not essential to yoga. What is essential is the desire to change and the ability to BE PRESENT. Many people cannot breathe on their own (requiring ventilators, oxygen masks, etc.), but none are excluded from yoga.
I had a student the other day who had an oxygen tank with a nostril inhaler to help him breathe. He did not feel able to breathe on his own, and was effectively tied to his oxygen. No matter - he was open to learning and growth (although over sixty), and was able to stay present for the sensations in his body, the thoughts in his mind, and the feelings in his heart. That is all that's required.
As our class did some easy breath awareness exercises, we talked about yoga, and what it could mean to us. We didn't force anything, just watched our breath go in an out with a sense of gratitude. After the class, this student came up to me with a smile on his face (and a look of mild amazement). He advised me that halfway through the class, his oxygen tank had run out ... and that he hadn't even noticed it (in an adverse way). The look of freedom on his face, of possibilities in the wing was uplifting. What had once been a anchor around his neck, a device he had depended on for his life had taken on a new perspective.
While he wasn't about to throw his oxygen away, he realized that he was not slave to it, but instead it (the oxygen) was a servant to him. He realized that he could indeed breathe, with mindfulness and gratitude (and for short periods) without his tank. The look in his eyes was that of a young eagle who was ready to fly from the nest. His not-young face was lit with the light of possibility, and it brought a tear to my eyes. He was grounded in reality, realizing that he now felt its absence and did indeed count on the oxygen to improve the quality of his life and health. But he was also simultaneously lifted up on wings of freedom, making contact with the young man in his past who didn't need extra oxygen, and with the person in his future to whom it would be a mere memory.
The light in his eyes as he practiced was inspirational to me, and the light afterwards lit my soul. This simple, nice man (a Vietnam veteran) had taught me a lot about yoga. His classmates also taught me a lot about it; coming to face a new possibility, a new challenge with nothing but their limitations, aches, and pains ... and courage. For it requires a huge amount of courage to even show up for yoga class. If you are older, out of shape, and challenged physically or mentally, the effort is elevated to one of heroic proportions.
In that beautiful afterglow that follows class, we all shared something wonderful; the brotherhood of those who have shared challenges and met them with nobility and bravery. Usually, this type of brotherhood is reserved for those in combat or other life-threatening situations, thrown closely together in a sea of chaos. This sense of brotherhood, of comradeship, of shared happiness and sorrow is what many veterans miss about the service (while simulataneously hating many other things). We had somehow tapped into that brotherhood without guns or bombs, blood, sweat, or tears.
We had done what many combat veterans are forced to do; approach the crucible of change with nothing but the shirts on our backs and hope in our hearts ... and the help and support of our brothers. We had gone to that special place for a moment, without guns or bullets, without anger or rage. It had been healing to all of us, and I had learned as much as I taught.
For this highlights one of the main lessons of life and yoga that I have learned and re-learned over time; that enlightenment cannot be obtained alone, and that we ascend together, rise with the helping hands of our brothers and sisters. Only in helping and in being helped do we complete the harmony of life, make its beautiful song manifest. Only in togetherness do we find heaven, here on Earth or elsewhere, for a heaven in which one is alone is Hell.
These brave men; young and old, soldiers and sailors, airmen and Marines. The true battles they fight are within, as they learn and grow and transcend their limitations (or their sense of limitation). While they may have formerly exhibited bravery in the service of their country, the bravery, courage and nobility they exhibit now in the service of a Higher Self and others is awe-inspiring. They prove that yoga is accessible to all, regardless of age or physical condition. They show the incredible transformative power of yoga in the simple things; the ability to be breathe for a moment without oxygen, to accept pain and limitations without accepting self-diminishment, to find honor in their simple actions of growth and change.
I am so blessed to be around students like this; I am not worthy but will nevertheless strive to be. For these are the type of students who I want the Divine to send to me; not those affluent ones in new Audis and nice bodies, but the broken, the hopeless, the forlorn. I want those in pain, in sorrow, and in suffering, for I am their brother in this. Together we will ascend beyond these illusory limitations and challenges. I want those who think they are too old or too fat, or too out of shape to practice yoga. I want those who think they are too 'bad' or angry or messed-up to have a yoga practice. I want to help guide them there, to help them see that if anything, yoga is for US; the broken and the hurt, the regular and the human. Yoga is for all. It is a gift. There is only one yoga - all apparent branches or types or divisions are merely surface phenomena, not changing the essential basis, the core from which yoga's power originates and operates.
Thank God for yoga. Thank God for students like Ed (we'll call him Ed for privacy's sake). Thank God for the chance for all of us to grow and change and learn, to help and laugh and love. Thank God ... or if you will, thank the Infinite Radiant IS.
AUM, Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi
I had a student the other day who had an oxygen tank with a nostril inhaler to help him breathe. He did not feel able to breathe on his own, and was effectively tied to his oxygen. No matter - he was open to learning and growth (although over sixty), and was able to stay present for the sensations in his body, the thoughts in his mind, and the feelings in his heart. That is all that's required.
As our class did some easy breath awareness exercises, we talked about yoga, and what it could mean to us. We didn't force anything, just watched our breath go in an out with a sense of gratitude. After the class, this student came up to me with a smile on his face (and a look of mild amazement). He advised me that halfway through the class, his oxygen tank had run out ... and that he hadn't even noticed it (in an adverse way). The look of freedom on his face, of possibilities in the wing was uplifting. What had once been a anchor around his neck, a device he had depended on for his life had taken on a new perspective.
While he wasn't about to throw his oxygen away, he realized that he was not slave to it, but instead it (the oxygen) was a servant to him. He realized that he could indeed breathe, with mindfulness and gratitude (and for short periods) without his tank. The look in his eyes was that of a young eagle who was ready to fly from the nest. His not-young face was lit with the light of possibility, and it brought a tear to my eyes. He was grounded in reality, realizing that he now felt its absence and did indeed count on the oxygen to improve the quality of his life and health. But he was also simultaneously lifted up on wings of freedom, making contact with the young man in his past who didn't need extra oxygen, and with the person in his future to whom it would be a mere memory.
The light in his eyes as he practiced was inspirational to me, and the light afterwards lit my soul. This simple, nice man (a Vietnam veteran) had taught me a lot about yoga. His classmates also taught me a lot about it; coming to face a new possibility, a new challenge with nothing but their limitations, aches, and pains ... and courage. For it requires a huge amount of courage to even show up for yoga class. If you are older, out of shape, and challenged physically or mentally, the effort is elevated to one of heroic proportions.
In that beautiful afterglow that follows class, we all shared something wonderful; the brotherhood of those who have shared challenges and met them with nobility and bravery. Usually, this type of brotherhood is reserved for those in combat or other life-threatening situations, thrown closely together in a sea of chaos. This sense of brotherhood, of comradeship, of shared happiness and sorrow is what many veterans miss about the service (while simulataneously hating many other things). We had somehow tapped into that brotherhood without guns or bombs, blood, sweat, or tears.
We had done what many combat veterans are forced to do; approach the crucible of change with nothing but the shirts on our backs and hope in our hearts ... and the help and support of our brothers. We had gone to that special place for a moment, without guns or bullets, without anger or rage. It had been healing to all of us, and I had learned as much as I taught.
For this highlights one of the main lessons of life and yoga that I have learned and re-learned over time; that enlightenment cannot be obtained alone, and that we ascend together, rise with the helping hands of our brothers and sisters. Only in helping and in being helped do we complete the harmony of life, make its beautiful song manifest. Only in togetherness do we find heaven, here on Earth or elsewhere, for a heaven in which one is alone is Hell.
These brave men; young and old, soldiers and sailors, airmen and Marines. The true battles they fight are within, as they learn and grow and transcend their limitations (or their sense of limitation). While they may have formerly exhibited bravery in the service of their country, the bravery, courage and nobility they exhibit now in the service of a Higher Self and others is awe-inspiring. They prove that yoga is accessible to all, regardless of age or physical condition. They show the incredible transformative power of yoga in the simple things; the ability to be breathe for a moment without oxygen, to accept pain and limitations without accepting self-diminishment, to find honor in their simple actions of growth and change.
I am so blessed to be around students like this; I am not worthy but will nevertheless strive to be. For these are the type of students who I want the Divine to send to me; not those affluent ones in new Audis and nice bodies, but the broken, the hopeless, the forlorn. I want those in pain, in sorrow, and in suffering, for I am their brother in this. Together we will ascend beyond these illusory limitations and challenges. I want those who think they are too old or too fat, or too out of shape to practice yoga. I want those who think they are too 'bad' or angry or messed-up to have a yoga practice. I want to help guide them there, to help them see that if anything, yoga is for US; the broken and the hurt, the regular and the human. Yoga is for all. It is a gift. There is only one yoga - all apparent branches or types or divisions are merely surface phenomena, not changing the essential basis, the core from which yoga's power originates and operates.
Thank God for yoga. Thank God for students like Ed (we'll call him Ed for privacy's sake). Thank God for the chance for all of us to grow and change and learn, to help and laugh and love. Thank God ... or if you will, thank the Infinite Radiant IS.
AUM, Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi
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