Power, Calmness - and Coffee? - Sept 2010 Purna Yoga Lifestyle

flower There are three forces - and one precursor - that we need to cultivate in order to make our dreams come true. The precursor to all three is the determination that your dream is YOUR dream. Most people's dreams are not their dreams; they are the dreams of their fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, society, the media, friends, etc. So first, you must truly look at yourself and decide that your dream is what you really want.

Then you must have power, love and wisdom: power to make things happen, love so we can be connected to truth, and wisdom so we can know what we are doing. Today I want to focus on the force of power, because I think it is greatly misunderstood. In yoga, power is the energy needed to act. It is not about force or aggression; it is not the power that aggrandizes the ego or makes you feel special or makes you be able to do stuff. In yoga, power is the force you need to do that which brings you closer to your Spirit. This is the prerequisite to the cultivation of power: you have to know where the power is going.

Power in Purna Yoga is the amount of energy you need to live your dharma. Your power is conditioned by dharma - the amount of strength you need, the amount of ability and passion, is conditioned by the aims of your Spirit, why you are born. You will still need power even if you think you have a simple dharma - because no one is here to sit, no lives are mundane or simple. We are here to act; therefore, everyone needs power, the energy which causes action.

coffee In yoga we are not talking about the illusion of power, or power that is short lived. For example, when you drink coffee, you may feel powerful, but only for a short time. Ten years from now, however, your adrenals will be exhausted, you will be completely dependent on coffee, your skin will be dried out, because that is what coffee does. It only gives a transient boost. In the long run, it actually damages the body. In yoga, we look at the effects of our actions over a lifetime. The power that can be cultivated from yoga is your own latent power which you have suppressed inside. Most people don't even know how much they have inside them because they are so busy "getting things done" they don't take the time to explore their own nature. Yoga is about the discovering who you are, so you can bring forth the power that is your own nature.

When we work on strength, we cultivate the ability to act. However, it is crucial to remember that while power must be cultivated, it must be balanced with calmness and equanimity. Otherwise, the strength becomes very aggressive, violent and shaky. On the other hand, if you only calm yourself down, you start to become ineffective. Yes, you may have a calm mind, feel peaceful, and things won't bother you - but then you can't do anything because you don't have the power behind your dreams! Combining the two is part of the whole process of self exploration and then living dharma.

* * *