Humility
With out humility, understanding is not truly possible. The beginning of knowledge is humility. Humility means that one should not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honored by others. The material conception of life makes us very eager to be honored by others.
Yoga says that the entry point to enlightenment is humility. Being humble symbolizes that we are willing to learn something new. Yoga inspires us, to be uncertain, to be humble, is to have the power to change. When life humbles us we have a choice to take it, to be humble, to change, and it is something to celebrate.
When we are blessed with humility we have the opportunity to shift our perspective. We have the opportunity to release an emotional attachment and perhaps a lot of karmic imprints. When approaching life with reverence we are approachable. We ground ourselves in radical acceptance and create the space for others to accept themselves too. It can be difficult to review our memories and see where our ego consciousness affected our relationships, and our present circumstance, yet this awareness is vital for our healing and is vital to bring our true nature into manifestation.
When we release our need to be right we reduce the competition and separation. Yoga inspires us that when we do this it is of great benefit to all existing. The energy of competition is our greatest challenge as a collective, and we all must contribute to this shift of energy. When we can shift the competitive energy within our selves we experience a release, we become more peaceful, more with joy.
It can be scary to release competition from our energy field as many of us have built up strong identities around this energy. We often as a culture recognize those that are competitive and even set up reward systems around this energy. An example of the reward system we often see is in the workspace, offers of more money, promotion, etc. for those who are the most successful. Survival of the fittest. But this is no longer a sustainable theory. We need to adopt a new theory, such as ALL Together NOW.
We may face those moments in life where our reality collapses and everything we were conditioned to believe would be there for us, isn’t there for us. We will all be forced into radical change. Humility will remind us that when life brings us these opportunities we can start to realize and embrace growth, and remember what has not been lost. Sometimes people come to the practices of devotion when they have literally nothing left to loose.
We will all face reality collapses, and when we hit the wall, what is it that we reach for? What is it that inspires us to get up and over the wall? Real wisdom comes from experiencing life, and these are the moments, the moments of humility, that can bring us back to our conscious awareness, back to our true intelligence.
When humble the yogi will accept whatever happens. The yogi knows it is happening for a reason because it is happening and does not let emotions and excitement unground them. The yogi is humble and develops deep patience and endurance, which are vital on the path to enlightenment.
When we don’t recognize the auspiciousness of life and its beauty it is arrogance and pride. This is a detriment to yoga and to our happiness. All yoga must begin with reverence. It must begin humble. It will end humble.
As a yoga teacher, there are all sorts of humbling opportunities we get to experience. Others will always have their opinions and preferences and sometimes even intense attachment to their preferences. It is our job as teachers of yoga, to practice and demonstrate yoga. We guide a technique to assist others in calming their nervous system and healing their adrenal glands, we help guide students in how to let go.
Humility is an act of grace. What ever is to happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time the yogi sees as arrangements from God, arrangements to cleanse and purify us in order for God to take us back into Oneness. The practice of humility assists us into the state of conscious perception that whatever comes to pass is all right.
