Inside Yoga 39 (12/6/11)
Last week Radio Five Live brought up the topic of depression, anxiety and stress suffered by top sports people, with interviews with rugby players and cricketers who have spoken about their battles with such problems.
And more importantly, they spoke about the culture of silence within sport surrounding depression and other such mental issues. In the field of sport, real men do not have such problems – a broken leg is not the same as feeling depressed or worried. New Zealand rugby player, John Kirwan’s book title hits the nail on the head ‘All Blacks Don’t Cry’. Yet keeping it blocked up inside can cause more problems than its worth.
Sporting people are not the only ones who go through such difficulties. In fact, most of us experience stress, anxiety and depressing thoughts at different times in our lives. Some of us suffer more than others: some of us find life a real struggle while others find these difficulties come up rarely. What is important here is to acknowledge that at some point most of us experience these negative mind states.
After all it’s part of human nature. And part of human nature is holding onto things – including mental states such as anxiety and sadness, when we really want to let it go. Why do we hold onto something that causes so much pain? Is it a sense of feeling helpless, or fearing the worst, and other such thoughts. It’s contagious and addictive. We get caught up in a cycle of thinking that is not a solution, nor healing or solving the problem.
Yet the wise teach us to let go. And we scream back “easier said than done”! But down in our hearts we know that this is the solution.
In my last chapter, I wrote about being in the present moment. This is the primary solution to all ills. Being present can mean what troubles us falls away because it is either not that bad, or perhaps because being present means we are aware of the big picture and a possible solution to our problems.
Our problems are like bad plumbing in a house; when the pipes are blocked problems mounts – pressure building up where it’s not meant to, bad stuff gets stuck in the pipes and causes smells and so on. And we know the solution is to unblock the pipes and let it flow again.
In a similar way, our minds and our bodies are filled with pipes, which carry physical matter such as food and blood, to non-physical movements, such as energy and emotions. When we get blockages, problems build up. We need to get our plumbing sorted out, letting it flow.
Psychologically, our stress and anxiety is like a blockage with our internal plumbing system close to bursting for some, or just a little block that we are not aware of – and this can build up slowly until it hits us badly. For example, stress builds up and this can happen gradually until a bad event catapults the problem into the open and suddenly we have a real problem. “The straw that broke the camel’s back,” so to speak.
Yoga addresses not only life’s dramas, but also those simmering problems below the surface – below the radar – which we are not aware of building up.
Taking the analogy of plumbing again, if we keep the pipe work clear and clean, we avoid any build of debris and other crap that might lead to a block. If we keep our practice going – this includes yoga exercises and especially meditation, we can keep it all flowing nicely.
And when the crap hits the fan, we can dig into our yoga practice to help us through the difficult times. That is where we need to acknowledge our problems and tendencies, as the sports people did, as that is part of the solution. We cannot hide from ourselves. Facing up to our demons and facing up to our problems is part of the solution.
Another important way yoga helps us is by maintaining our energy levels, and also keeping our self-awareness sharp. That is where being present comes in – the recurring theme of yoga and life. A yoga practice helps to bring our body and mind out of the problems that life throws at us, and it also helps us to maintain the balance.
We know getting stuck is not enjoyable; that’s why we learn to let go and let it flow. Having clarity and vitality – which yoga helps us achieve – is needed in facing our problems and healing them.
