Inside Yoga 150 (23/11/15)

Last weekend I was watching a film with my five-year-old daughter when she said she wanted to fast forward the film. I told her that she should not do this because she hasn’t seen it before. “Why have a fast forward button then?” she responded.

At the time I replied, as most parents would, explaining that this button allows us to jump ahead, for example, when we don’t want to watch adverts, or other reasons like getting back the part of the film we stopped watching the day before. There was also another reason why I felt the need to tell her how to use fast forward. Our daughter has recently discovered that she can fast forward, and also change to another film or TV show any time she wants. In fact she has being doing this a bit too much lately, so I also explained that she must watch the film, and not chop and change all the time.

Afterwards I thought a bit more about this question; I naturally thought how clever she was to ask such a searching and observational question, but it also highlighted a feature of life for many of us.

If we have something we must use it, but the problem is that these days we have a lot of gadgets – they used to be called gadgets and now are regarded as essentials for living. You could say we are addicted to our gadgets to the point that we keep using them even when we don’t need to, very much like my daughter observed, why is it there if we cannot use it….she meant, lots?

There is also another feature of life that this episode highlights and that is our need and impulse to rush or jump ahead. How often do we fast forward because of impatience and eagerness to get to the next stage, even if we haven’t really experienced the present stage?

We have all done this, and continue to do this but is it the best way to live our lives? I suggest it is not, because there are a few comments most people make about their lives that indicate that we struggle with the time we have: comments like “there is never enough time”, and “time is flying by”.

If we are driving a car too fast – perhaps on the phone, listening to music while talking to someone else in the car at the same time – and we begin to lose control of the vehicle, do we speed up to take control? No, we don’t, because we slow down, or even stop – not just the car but the chatter and the music.

An obvious scenario but we live our lives like this; a car crash waiting to happen, and ignore the warning signals. How do we stop the fast forwarding and the speeding?

Practising yoga asanas (postures) and /or meditation can take the speed and the fast forward impulses out of our lives. It is a practice that asks us to slow down and stop, to be present with ourselves and to notice our self, even if it is for short period in the day before we get sucked back into the speed of daily life. Doing this practice helps bring life into perspective, so we can see how we are living – more clearly.

See if you notice when you have pressed fast forward – it can happen so easily and without us being aware that is has. Being aware is the key. Then it is a choice, do we take action to remedy the situation or ignore it?

Yoga offers us the opportunity to press “pause” and not “fast forward”.

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