Yoga Lessons

Here's what I've learned in three years of about twice-weekly, quite consistent yoga: When I face difficulty, as in an uncomfortable stretch or balance, my mind tends to recoil. It tries to get me to stop. Every time I choose to continue, which involves observing my mind's recoil as a more or less interesting fact while patiently explaining to myself that no harm will come of this, and some benefit will, I become better at choosing to continue. There is a sort of mental muscle that gets practiced, and the very same muscle is what is needed to be present, to 'lean into' difficult challenges of all kinds. Getting verbally assaulted used to occasionally bring me to physical violence and later gnawing anxiety and self-loathing. Now, when my insane neighbor barks something caustic at me, I am much more able to stand there and watch him yammer until he runs out of steam, and then go into the house and ignore him. Very effective, and easier on me. I am far more flexible than I was a few years ago, and stronger, and I have repaired some chronic misalignments that were gradually limiting my movement and enjoyment of life, but the most important thing I've learned from yoga is the difference between pain [what circumstances create] and suffering [what my mind makes out of pain], and how to manage my experience day to day with relative equanimity. I'll be damned if I don't sound just like all them yoga books. It works. It is strange at first, or was to me, but it is the most down-to-Earth pragmatic mind training, strange maybe because I was raised to believe that my feelings are the product of my circumstances, that my mental state is an unequal and opposite reaction to exterior conditions. I am relearning, and this has been a clear path to happiness. I also have a long way to go.