Peace & Change
“If we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children; and if they will grow up in their natural innocence, we won’t have to struggle, we won't have to pass fruitless, idle resolutions, but we shall go from love to love and peace to peace, until at last all the corners of the world are covered with that peace and love for which, consciously or unconsciously, the whole world is hungering.”
~Mahatma Gandhi
There is a new report out recently about the dire need to make meaningful changes now for the ongoing climate crisis to possibly stabilize. The ecological abuse we put on the planet is a mirror to the overall health of the human race. The more we see ourselves as separate from nature, the more we do not fully understand the planet: human symbiosis. Our health will continue to decline, and our mother earth will continue to break. I know this sounds heavy on a beautiful spring day but there is good news. We must start by steadying the inner relationship with ourselves. The symbiosis of our unique and individual human planets.
Both Yoga and Ayurveda teach that our true nature, in all of us, is the essence or quality called sat-chit-ananda. Sat-chit-ananda is a description of the true Self. Of the "I" that is the knower of all experience and that "by which all things are known.”
Sat is that which never changes, truth, or absolute being. Chit is consciousness. Ananda is bliss. The ancient concept is that we are all absolute bliss consciousness. Everyone means even folks we disagree with, or we may see as other, share the same innate quality as ourselves.
I don’t know if you have noticed a lack of sat-chit-ananda around these days. To me it seems we are watching the human race become unhinged, divided, angry, worried and depressed. If you look at the increase of violence, murders, road rage, mass shootings (109 so far this year), and general nasty behavior, it is fair to say too many of us have forgotten our true nature is consciousness and bliss.
Thankfully we can lean into Yoga and Ayurveda. Through the science and the teachings, we can be the light of change, to offer love instead of criticism, judgement, or violence.
The current world we live in gives us constant opportunities to be the observer and then make a conscious decision on what to do next. Sometimes all it takes is to pause for 3 seconds and we move from reaction to response.
Reactivity has already been on full show for several years. For many people the time in seclusion has had the added negative effect of losing the ability to interact with each other. That pushes the belief of “other” more deeply into the thought pattern.
We have all been affected by the last 24 months in a myriad of ways. We all experienced firsthand what isolation was like. It is so important to remember that humans are communal. We need the connection to thrive.
We can use the practices of Yoga and Ayurveda to heal our relationship with ourselves. To know we are worthy of love, health, prosperity and experience ourselves as sat-chit-ananda. Then we have the ability to see other human beings as sat-chit-ananda. We look beyond their behavior and past the wounds they are acting from. This practice will help to grow our compassion, forgiveness for ourselves and others.
Beginning by spending time contemplating and meditating on the yama’s and niyamas. The yamas and niyamas are yoga's ethical guidelines laid out in the first two limbs of Patanjali's eightfold path. They're like a map written to guide you on your life's journey. Simply put, the yamas are things not to do, or restraints, while the niyamas are things to do, or observances.
If you would like to take a deeper dive, please feel free to visit the article archive on my website. I have an entire series I wrote for Banyan Botanicals.
As I began with Gandhi, I end with another poignant message of the great one. We have all heard the saying, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi is often credited with this, but there is no record of it at all!
What Mahatma Gandhi did say is:
"We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
I am happy to assist and walk with on your own healing path.
Please reach out if you are interested in discussing what that might look like.
Namaste.
The Light in me absolutely sees and bows to the same light in you.
From: April 2022 Newsletter