Originally published July 17, 2020
This is a challenging time. There are new limits, with fewer possibilities for distraction. Sometimes, I find this helpful. I have had lots more time at home. My garden has never been more beautiful. I have done more reading and reflection. There are fewer interruptions; I have been able to focus on the same thing for longer periods of time. Other times, I am resentful. I miss casually hanging out. I really miss hugging my friends. I feel silly when I forget that shaking hands is not the appropriate gesture when being introduced to someone new. Sometimes, I get stuck in my own head and there is no easy distraction. I can’t just go to a movie or throw a party when I am bored with my own company.
Yasodhara Ashram recently offered an online class called “The Wisdom of Limitation”. I was excited when I learned of it and registered quickly. Of course, I wished I was going to Canada for a week-end experience, but I looked forward to connecting with the teacher and students and finding some answers about how to live with these new limitations to my freedom.
The class was great! It was wonderful to connect with others in the same boat, to be offered an opportunity to reflect on my experience, and to hear how other people were feeling about things. While it did not solve anything, I was reminded that yoga offers tools to help me deal with change in a way that leads me out of being stuck over the same old stuff and getting mired in my own frustration. Plus, I noticed I had more questions after the class than I did before, but the new questions were more fruitful.
As a follow up to that class, I read an article by Swami Radhananda written for Ascent magazine titled “Steps to Freedom” in which she stated that “the goal of yoga is liberation from all limitations.” I began to wonder how the “The Wisdom of Limitation” worked with “the liberation from all limitations.” I tried thinking about it, which was interesting, but again I found this raised more questions. I looked at limitations: my aging body, wearing a mask, relationships that are strained by the new restrictions to movements, as well as my frustration with wanting things to the way they used to be, and my anger at the changes that are around me. As I reflected on these things, I realized I can continue to practice Hatha Yoga to help me live more happily with my aging body. I can also use the other tools of yoga to stretch my mind and to keep my emotions and imagination from running away with me.
As I continue to work with these themes, I will often stand in Mountain or lie in Savasana, focus on my breath, holding lightly the situation that makes me feel stuck, then reflect on these questions:
- What does liberation mean to me?
- What is the difference between a limit and a limitation?
- Is this a limit I need to learn to live with or is it a limitation imposed by a concept in my mind?
- How can I change my perspective?
- How can I let go of this concept that is making things harder for me?
- How can I accept the limits that are necessary more gracefully?
- What is my part in the problems with others caused by being more confined?
I find my reflections often give rise to more questions. They also give me a little more perspective and occasionally a feeling of freedom and some joy in the possibilities.
Feel free to borrow my questions, or work with your own. I find that chanting mantra, practicing Hatha Yoga, and doing the Divine Light Invocation always seem to make my reflection times more fruitful.
Also, read Swami Radhananda’s article “Steps to Freedom”. I find it to be inspiring when I get stuck and can’t figure out what to do next.