YOGA
it easier to sit with my
emotions, even the messy
ones, and just give them
some space to be. I’ve
become more easeful.
In yoga terminology,
practice allows us to soften into our goddess side.
To call upon the power
of the divine feminine
that is the encapsulation
of Daya (compassion) in
traditional Hindu yoga
literature. “I salute you,
Goddess, who dispels
great fear, averts great
difficulties, and is of the
essence of great compassion.” The Devi Upanishad (25).
Surprisingly, compassion
is not always addressed
immediately in the major
and ancient yoga texts.
The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali for example doesn’t
include Daya (compassion) outright as a limb of
the path, but mentions
compassion along with
friendliness, gladness,
and equanimity as supporting the path to transcendence. Compassion
is listed as an additional
Yama (self-restraint) in the
much later texts colloquially referred to as the
Yoga Upanishads; but
these are lesser used texts
with much less influence
than the Sutra.
Patanjali must have
known that compassion
and yoga came hand in
hand. Once one started
to practice any of the
other limbs – ahimsa,
asana, and meditation
in particular – the cultivation of compassion would
be forthcoming.
Compassion is truly the
territory of Buddhism,
and Buddhist yoga. The
Mahayana Buddhists in
particular took pains to
recognize social ideals as
major parts of the path
to enlightenment, and
embody this feminine
side to the spiritual path
with compassion at its
heart. The goddess rightly
is the divine embodiment
of compassion in many
ways.
It’s no surprise that in the
West we have lives somewhat bereft of compassion. We zoom around,
living in our Yang, Pingala
(sun energy) booming
while Ida (moon energy)
languishes. We have
squeezed the goddess
and her powers out of
our lives with all of our
appointments and to-do
lists.
Compassion needs
space to breathe, like
the goddess who needs
room to create, to move,
and to feel. That is how
the magic compassion
of yoga works. As we
move through the poses,
opening the body, calming our hectic minds,
we stop. We slow down.
We calm. And we allow
compassion to emerge,
without any express intent or purpose. It’s the
softening part of the
yogic path, more than
any others, which calls
forth the magic of compassion, and creates truly
profound change in our
lives, not to mention our
driving habits.
Jai Ma!
Crystal Fosteranthe ownerYoga head teacher of Prema Yoga, a mobile yoga
Jenny Ellis is is early 30s and gal with a passion for community and
continuous in Scarborough Ontario. She is a registered yoga teacher having
company learning. She can always be found with her head in a book, in a
silly yoga pose, or sharing her musings Dias, and the TYS-800 with Georg and
completed the EWRYT-350 with Susie over on her blog or Twitter. With a fiery
personality she constantly strives to motivatethe matto see their greatness,
Brenda Feuerstein. She spends her days on others with kids, adults, and
while always making sure to laugh at herself. Followbusiness, Jenny reads, at
seniors. In addition to her practice, teaching, and along on her journey
yogicrystal.wordpress.com or on Twitter at @YogiCrystal.
writes, cooks, and explores.