yoga

MINDFULNESS^

practice well

THAIS RAMOS VARELA/STOCKSY

constantly but may be unaware of just how

much it can block your path to happiness. By

giving you the tools to observe your body,

mind, and emotions, yoga’s teachings can help

you identify when you’re at the mercy of your

ego and pave the way for identifying with your

true essence.

See your ego for what it is

At the most basic level, the ego is what allows

you to differentiate yourself from others. A

healthy ego gives you physical boundaries

and a sense of self. But when it’s out of

balance, your ego is what leads you to define

yourself according to external qualities and

circumstances, like your appearance, your

house, or your job.

The ego is what makes you feel superior

when you strike a perfectly balanced Warrior III,

or like Merrill, feel inferior because some poses

are beyond your reach. The ego persuades

you to identify yourself as a flawless hostess or

superstar yoga teacher, or conversely, makes

you feel that you don’t measure up in these

areas. Yoga’s soaring popularity on Facebook

and Instagram may stoke these fires, leading

you to pine over images of others’ picture-

perfect arm balances, vacations, or wardrobes.

In yoga circles, the ego has suffered from

a bad reputation for centuries. The Gheranda

Samhita, a yogic text written in the 17th

century, says, “There is no fetter like illusion,

no force greater than yoga, no friend greater

than knowledge, and no enemy greater than

ego.” In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, ego is the

second of the fivekleshas, or afflictions that

lead to suffering, as outlined in the book’s

second chapter. When yoga took hold in

America in the ’60s and ’70s, ego was widely

thought of as something to be eradicated in

order to reach enlightenment. But you need

your ego in order to function in the material

world—and you couldn’t get rid of it even if

you tried.

“We often use the term ‘ego’ as a

synonym for negative qualities,” says Sally

Kempton, international teacher of meditation,

author ofMeditation for the Love of It. “But

ego is a function of consciousness; we can’t

make it go away. We need to discern what kind

of ego isn’t useful and what kind is.”

Identify the true you

In Sanskrit, one term for ego isahamkara, which

is defined as “I maker,” or “that which produces

a sense of I-ness,” says Nicolai Bachman, a

teacher of Sanskrit and yoga philosophy and

director of Sanskrit Sounds in Santa Fe, New

Mexico. Ahamkara is what allows you to see

yourself as separate from others. In that sense,

it’s something entirely natural. But a healthy

ego becomes a problem when you identify

too strongly with external aspects of your life

at the expense of your internal, essential self.

“The more attention you give the ego, the more

powerful it becomes,” says Bachman. When this

happens, ego becomesasmita, one of the five,

pain-causing kleshas.

“According to Patanjali, asmita literally

means ‘the thing other than the real I’ or

‘the false self,’ ” says Kate Holcombe, a San

Francisco-based yoga teacher, and founder

and executive director of the Healing Yoga

Foundation. This false identification happens,

according to Yoga Sutra II.6, when you mistake

the mind, body, or senses for the true Self—in

other words, when you believe that your

thoughts, anxieties, successes, and failures are

who you really are. It’s a pattern that leaves your

happiness at the mercy of life’s ups and downs,

and it’s one that yoga’s teachings are designed

to address by helping you connect with your

essence.

Stop the comparison

The first step is being able to see when

your ego is getting in your way. The ego

becomes problematic when your state of

mind is dependent on your self-definition.

For example, if you identify yourself solely

by your job title or by your status as a parent,

that’s your ego, as limiting klesha. When you

feel superior or inferior to your neighbor or

friend, or you get attached to flattery and

attention, that’s unhealthy ego. It’s the part

of you that bristles when you’re criticized, or

feels inferior when things don’t go your way.

The real hallmark of ego-as-affliction is that

it always measures and compares itself to

other people. Keeping up with the Joneses? A

classic maneuver of the ego—and a recipe for

unhappiness.

In the short term, when you’re caught

in the thrall of the ego, you’re constantly

measuring yourself by what you’ve

accomplished—or haven’t. Similarly, your

sense of self-worth waxes and wanes

according to how others see you. Instead of

being grounded in the knowledge that we’re

all from the same essence, you’re constantly

worried that you’re not enough.

Overindentifying with the ego causes

unhappiness in the long term, too. You might

see yourself as an accomplished yogi, but what

if you get into a bike accident and can’t practice?

How will you feel if you define yourself as

someone who has a successful career or great

relationship or a strong, healthy body, and then

these circumstances change?

This is not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t

enjoy your accomplishments, or get a lift from

your successes, says Holcombe. “People think

that practicing yoga means you’re supposed

to relinquish desire,” she says. “But Patanjali

says to relinquish the things that are obstacles

that disturb the mind. You can enjoy having a

beautiful home or a great asana practice. The

problem comes if you can’t see the difference

between that and your essence, the place of real

value.”

Get your story straight

Think of your yoga practice as a guide for

learning to notice when you’re gripped by your

ego and to connect to your true, unchanging

essence. Practices like asana, pranayama, and

meditation are designed to help you quiet the

mind and all of its rumblings so that you can,

eventually, feel that you are pure essence. Even

though you’ll still be pulled this way and that

by your ego, being in touch with this truth will

allow you to respond with more grace, more

ease.

In your asana practice, observe your

thoughts and sensations as they come and go.

Notice which poses you love and which you

hate. Notice the story your thoughts are telling

you, and then practice letting it go. “One of the

important things about asana is that it creates

a habit of self-observation,” says yoga teacher

Judith Hanson Lasater, a psychologist, physical

therapist, and author of eight books about yoga.

“When we stretch in the ritual of asana, our

attention is drawn inward, toward the sensation

35

december 2018 / january 2019

yogajournal.com.sg