When did surrender become a synonym for defeat? When did we start to associate humility and realization with weakness? Can we begin to erase the notion of surrender as weakness and redefine it as strength? Can we see the honor and courage in acknowledging and accepting our predicament?
Letting go of who we think we are
When we see letting go as a way of acknowledging, witnessing and honoring our truth, we begin to release our attachment to the material and external definitions of who we are. We tend to define ourselves by what we accomplish, who witnesses our achievements, and the material or emotional satisfaction they bring.
Our yoga practice helps us chip away at our identification with results. When we begin to see life as a practice, a journey rather than a destination, we find solace in the present. We learn to set aside pride, release the need for control and power, and find faith and trust that within ourselves is an innately spiritual, peaceful soul.
Ambition without bondage
Surrendering doesn’t mean giving up ambition. It means remaining ambitious without emotional bondage to the outcome. There is grace in finding tolerance when we think of ourselves a little less. In finding sincerity in our actions, we allow the ego to be broken. When we break free from egotistical thoughts, motives and actions, we can move forward without clinging to the past or depending on what the future holds.
Our relationship with difficulty shifts as we transform our focus. When we focus on what we do not have, we lose sight of what we do have. Yes, we acknowledge our pain; we see it for what it is. But the suffering from the pain is optional. In surrender, we find kindness and love not just for ourselves, but for everything and everyone around us.
This is our yoga
This surrendering, this humility: it’s work. Hard work. It may be the hardest thing we ever do. Whether we are surrendering to the inversion in our physical practice, to the troubles of our past, or to the fight for our future that steals our present, we surrender and let go.
We let go for a second, a minute, maybe even two. We get attached again, sometimes sooner than we’d like. We come back and let go. We keep coming back. We come back so often that we begin to build a new foundation. We forge new samskaras, impressions in the mind, so that maybe next time it takes a few more minutes, weeks or years before we find ourselves attached again.
We do this over and over, because this is our practice. This is our yoga.
