Dear Yogis,
When you undertake anything seriously there is a predictable path that lies ahead. The thing that I love about the yoga tradition is rather than moving through life blindly, experiencing these inevitable road blocks, joys, and diversions as a surprise, the tradition provides a framework which helps you to know what to expect in life.
There’s not a requirement of retrospect (although that often validates the teachings of yoga). I laugh as my teacher trainees shout across the room at me during philosophy lessons “That makes so much sense! That’s exactly what I experienced! Why don’t they teach this stuff in schools! Life would be so much easier if everyone were aware of this!”
There’s something comforting about what is predictable, about knowing what to expect. Like watching a predictable movie, it follows the same path as the other predictable movies you’ve seen. You know what to expect next. Shouting at the screen, “Don’t go in there! Why do they always go in there? I know the killer is going to get you! Why don’t you know better?!”
It plays upon our inner makeup as humans. What is unknown can cause fear, excitement and sometimes even suffering. Sometimes what is known or familiar can keep us locked up in situations that may not even be good for us, but we recognize them, we are used to them and that makes them comfortable so we put up with it. Often we don’t change in a way that will benefit us because the unknown is too uncomfortable.
With Yoga we have a system that makes us comfortable understanding the future to come. This knowledge and preparedness is what will help us grow, expand, get better, heal, and accomplish self-realization. It gives us the space and assuredness for change. It’s absolutely worth diving deeper into yoga.
Living in the material world (a world made of matter) provides a certain predictability, that upon understanding we can lean back and make plans around.
We don’t have to be so surprised when we relinquish the expectations that: matter act differently than it should, that people be something they are not, that our bodies and minds function in a way they don’t. (As much as society pressures us to believe otherwise).
We suffer less when we understand more because we can accept more about what is. Shame, denial, anxiety, confusion, resistance falls away when we truly understand/accept the self and the universe. It gets replaced with ease, peace, joy, contentedness, an open/expansive mind and a devoted surrendered heart.
This is one of the reasons your teachers at Revolution Yoga emphasize so much of the philosophy in every class. We are trying to set you up for success, for a better understanding of the self and this universe we call home.
This helps us to know what to expect, it helps to bolster us against what is hard because we were already told, “This is what will happen and here are the solutions for the problems that will inevitably arise”. If you know the road and way ahead you are more likely to walk it confidently.
The Staff at Revolution is prepared to guide you through 2023. We will be offering new life changing workshops, programs, trainings and more.
Check out our February offerings that will help you dive deeper into your philosophical understanding of yoga, the universe and the self. And be sure to make it to classes at Revolution consistently to watch the amazing changes that will occur in your life, health and experience.
Wishing you all a peaceful, abundant and prosperous 2023.
Peace and Love,
Amanda and the good folks at Revolution Yoga
Originally shared in our February 2023 newsletter.