isvara-pranidhana

Who are we, not to shine? — Nelson Mandela

All of us have experienced moments of profound connectedness — the caress of a spring breeze on bare skin, the feeling in our chests when we look into another’s eyes with love, the holy awe of gazing at a star-strewn summer sky. There is a greatness right beneath the surface of everyday life, and every once in a while we catch a glimpse of it. Those are the sudden, lucid flashes when life beguiles us out of the prison of our minds and leads us right into the moment. On our mats and on our meditation cushions, we begin to experience this deep connection as an everyday occurrence. Isvara-pranidhana is about making the experience of greatness a priority.

And why not? We can live in the light with the same ease with which we live in our darkness. We are surrounded by mentors, by men and women who have chosen to live life on a higher plane, for a higher purpose. The music we listen to, the movies we watch, the books we read — all abound with references to the sweetness of “amazing grace”. This final moment in the eight limbs of yoga is about allowing grace to happen. Not hoping for it to happen, not trying hard to let it happen, not believing that one day it will happen — this final moment is about letting it happen. It is about shining, and who are we not to shine? — Rolf Gates, Meditations from the Mat

Isvara-pranidhana – This niyama doesn’t require that you believe in a god or follow any religion but comes from an understanding of the mind. Our neural networks wire according to the paths most frequently fired in our brains. That means the more you think something, the easier it is for your mind to follow the neural pathway of thinking that way. If you don’t think in new ways, learn new things or have different experiences, your brain will not form new neural pathways. You quite literally become ‘narrow-minded’. Living like this is unconsciously habitual, what yoga calls living with samskara (mental ‘sludge’ or buildup from repetition). Isvara-pranidhana encourages you to always “open your mind” to the opportunity of something bigger, different, or new. It’s an acceptance of the fact that your own desires, will to power and actions are not the only thing going on in reality. It encourages you to stay open to working with forces out of your control instead of fearing, resisting, or battling them, clinging to a desire to predict reality through habit. — Asia Nelson