Steps to awakening-Part 1
If we are unwell or burnt-out and stressed, or if we have experienced some form of suffering - or simply as we get older and realise the nature of being mortal - then we may feel a sense of emptiness inside despite our material success. This may cause us to ask: “Why am I here and what is life about?”
For some people, the idea that Yoga might be spiritual is very off-putting and they may only practise for the health benefits. For others, Yoga can be a path for meaning in life. But what do we mean by the word ‘spiritual’? Is it about living life in a way that incorporates certain ethics? Does it mean God or religion? Is it about inner peace - or even some abstract idea of ‘union’? Could it mean understanding the true nature of reality?
Or are these just words and mental constructs? And does any of this have any relevance to us, or to our well-being?
Do I have to be ‘spiritual’ to practice Yoga?
Words like ‘spiritual’ or ‘God’ can turn people off Yoga completely. But the great thing about practising Yoga is that we can have a religion or not. We can believe in God or not. There is no conflict. For many of us nevertheless, Yoga is an intensely spiritual way of being, which doesn’t necessarily have to involve either God or religion. Yoga is just about realising what is really true…
Because language is always conceptual, a word may end up taking us further away from what is real. A flower, for example, describes something but it isn’t the flower itself. On a retreat I was on with the teacher Adyashānti (who has a Zen Buddhist background), it was explained that ‘Truth’ is neither non-dual nor dual; it is neither spiritual nor secular.
What Adya meant was that Truth is beyond any concept, word or thought and that the answer to this lie within every one of us this very moment. Life is unfolding in each micro-second, which, is a miracle. That micro-second then dies to the next one.
If you can, open a window right now and just look out and explore with all your senses. Listen to the birds sing. If you can see a garden from the window, look at a flower unfurling its petals. Feel the breeze on your skin. Notice and smell any scents that are there. Really be here with this.
Can you see that there is something amazing and miraculous about life when the mind is not interpreting and judging and when there is real clarity? Are you separate from life or not?