yoga

(Nandana) #1

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
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december 2018 / january 2019

yogajournal.com.sg
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