Aparigraha - releasing attachment to outcome
It's been awhile since my last blog entry. Life has been... both simultaneously break neck and full of deep reflection. Writing seems like a luxury these days.
What's going on?
I am realizing that a lot of what is going on lately is learning about working without attachment to outcome, doing the work for the work's sake, just because you know it is work that is good and needs to be done. It is not lost on me that whenever I am overly concerned with the outcome of some project, class or idea, that the result often falls short, leaving me with a feeling of disappointment or failure. This is usually followed by a period of delight after I decide to let go of my attachment to outcome, forget about it for a moment and just do the work for the work's sake. Usually this is when I get surprised by a barrage of phone calls, emails and messages of people wanting to sign up for a program or come to a class. I can't not notice that this always happens in a "surge", like all at once, coinciding coincidentally with a moment when I have just released my expectation and attachment to outcomes and results and have let go into the flow of pure creation for the sake of creation again.
Our Asana practice
It happens in our asana practice too. We can sometimes practice with great attachment to achieving certain positions with our body, rather than enjoying the movement and the postures for the sake of the postures themselves.
Aparigraha
This is the concept called aparigraha, one of the five yamas of Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga. I think we will revisit the yamas and the niyamas in our drop in classes starting in January. It is time.
The Bhagavad Gita
" Let your concern be with the action alone, and never with the fruits of action. Do not let the results of your action be your motive, and do not be attached to inaction" - Krishna (Bhagavad Gita)
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