By Lakshmi
Originally published September 25, 2020
I recently listened to part of the Ted Talk hour on NPR. It was about mental health during the pandemic. It all boiled down to the need for connections and how essential that is. We are fortunate to have various technological tools – FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp, Zoom – to connect with our family, friends and coworkers during this time of pandemic isolation.
Based on my own experience of feeling very remote and isolated in the past, I have found that connecting with other people is essential. Yet I have also discovered there is another connection that is even more essential – the connection with my inner Self. That connection doesn’t need these outer technology tools.
The yogic tools or practices – such as chanting mantra, the Divine Light Invocation, reflection – help me sustain this most important connection. Using these tools with willingness, discipline and devotion, I can see beyond my little self and know that I am connected to something much bigger, to a Consciousness that can sustain me – even in a time when it is challenging to make connections with other people.
“We are looking for the practices to make changes and take action. We are looking for how the mind works, how the heart opens. It always has to come back to the connection within so that we can see the reflection without”.
~ Swami Radhananda, Living the Practice
- Go for a symbolic walk in your neighborhood – Note the various trees connected to each other. Lawns connected. Streets connecting becoming a neighborhood, becoming a city, a state, a country, the world, the cosmos. People on bicycles, in cars, walking, running all a part of the whole. Reflect on how you are a part of all of this.
- Go into the triangle pose – Note how the various parts of your body are connected – internal organs as well as limbs, torso and head. My brain telling my body what to do; all systems connected – skeleton, neural, muscles, etc.
What do the three points of your body in the pose represent to you?
“Trikonasana, the asana where triangles are formed with your own human body, is an excellent pose for discovering more about relationship and interconnection. A triangle, a simple geometrical form, is also a powerful symbol”.
~ Swami Sivananda Radha, Yoga: A Path to Awareness
- Look at a series of your dreams. Review your connection to the various people in them.
“Then you can see the tremendous interconnection among all beings and understand that you are not really an isolated island”.
~ Swami Sivananda Radha, Realities of the Dreaming Mind