Don't take the pill, do the work

It’s a lot harder to do the work than to take the pill. An entire pharmocological industry has grown out of this fact.

I am not anti-medicine and I applaud our scientists for their skill and dogged determination. Some of my special needs yoga student’s lives have been transformed beyond recognition by the meds that have reduced their seizures or improved their lung function. Another student’s life has (literally) been saved by meds for the very serious mental health condition which has sometimes seen him hospitalised for his own safety.

I am however very pro doing the work.

Yoga, breathwork, good diet and relaxation work when they are applied to back pain, social anxiety, depression, chronic conditions and a multitude of other difficulties, physical and mental, that so many of us confront throughout life.

So does looking deeply at the sources of your pain.

That these are not quick fixes is their power. You are not going to understand that your depression or anger comes from your need for perfectionism, which comes from your need not to disappoint yourself or others, which comes from the way you were brought up by your (probably very lovely) parents. To understand the provenance of your problems does not mean that you turn to judgement and blame of your early carers. It means that you understand clearly the framework in which you are operating, so that you might choose a healthier and happier modus operandi for life.

That this work is hard is evidenced by the fact that so few people are doing it.

That this work is of utmost value is evidenced by the peace and wisdom of those who have done (and continue to do) it.

So don’t take the pill, do the work. Understand yourself and how you got to be here. See more clearly how you contribute to the longevity of your own pain by the deeply ingrained habits and attitudes you are carrying through life with you. Move forward with compassion and forgiveness in your heart (for you, for them, for everything). Make changes accordingly.

Practise, reflect, choose wisely every day - a daily dose, so to speak. The side effects are that you live better, feel happier and have more positivity to contribute. Everybody wins.

Hope

That the world is an unwieldy and sometimes frightening place is not in doubt. It has always been this way, as any cursory glance at myth, legend and history will tell you.

The trouble is that clenching yourself up, whether as a fist to smash or a stone to hide, is never the answer. You cannot control your way through life, for it happens anyway; it is the clear blue sky from which the plane fell, as Joan Didion has written.

The disasters you think you are preparing for never happen, and nothing could have prepared you for the ones that did.

And yet you coped. And yet you lived on. Loved on.

The result of that difficulty and pain is the wisdom and compassion you now have, which is a gift to everyone you meet.

The answer to the question of what to do in the face of a difficult world is to stay open and hopeful.

Hope is optimism and the belief that good things will come again, but hope also means trust. Trust that you are strong enough to thrive here; trust in your little life, which is so important to so many; trust in doing the simple things that restore you to yourself and inspire you.

Yoga Tribe

We are born into one tribe and we make for ourselves another. We have it here in our yoga community. It is a tribe that encompasses all kinds of people, some with disabilities, others who face mental health challenges, others who face nothing more than the everday challenge of being human in a difficult world.

Yoga is not and has never been a religion, and this gives us so much freedom. In our tribe there are people who are practising Christians, Sikhs, Muslims. There are also atheists and agnostics. Because yoga espouses the view that all paths lead to unity, we are free to choose our own path to peace and freedom, and to allow others to pursue theirs without judgement.

What we share in our tribe is a yearning for more humanity and compassion in our interactions with the world. We support each other online and in person, through classes, trainings, retreats and communications. I love to hear that students from class, who only know each other through class, have become friends. What better place to meet like-minded souls than in yoga classes real or virtual.

Our tribe extends across continents and it constantly shifts - people become more or less active within the tribe, but they never disappear completely. We cross-pollinate, so that people who practise online meet in person on retreat or in workshops, or students in different countries come to know one another through social media.

The unity of this tribe has come as a wonderful surprise to me. It is a brilliant thing to post a photograph of one of my young special needs students and for them to receive encouragement and pride from other members of the tribe.

When we tell our honest stories and feelings to the world we might be misunderstood or dismissed, but within our tribe someone will thank you for it. There is humour, kindness and acceptance here. It is a place in which to belong.