Inside Yoga 78 (10/6/13)
Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden, wrote: “As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
Last week I was thinking about the idea of simplicity and how important it is to our well-being and quality of life. Yet it can be something that some of us like the idea of but cannot work out how to find, or for others, simplicity is seen as something which threatens the life they have, busy as it might be, stressed as it probably is, they don’t want to lose what they have or do, even though simplifying their life might be the solution to all that feels wrong in their life.
Simplicity need not be seen as a loss, but the gain of something meaningful and beneficial.
Simplicity is an attitude and an intention we bring to our life. It can mean cutting a few things from our life, but I do think for many of us this is needed when considering how cluttered and busy we make our lives. Time does feel squeezed and rushed when we fill it so much.
And for others the negative outcome of a busy and squashed life is stress, anxiety and depression, or simply ill health, tiredness, high anger levels for example, but without the knowledge of what is causing it. A therapist can help us identify the sources but what also helps is to have some tools to help us access “the better way of living”.
For example, this is where meditation and yoga exercises help so much. They teach us simplicity by demonstrating them in action. When we learn to practice we are learning how to slow down and simplify he things we do – breathing, exercise and so forth. Of course there are some yoga exercises that appear complicated but this is where the mastering of them transforms the exercise into something simple and perhaps effortless.
Hence the reference to a question of attitude and intention, because if we want to, we can complicate and clutter our meditation and yoga practice, instead of finding the simplicity within the practice which will then unlock what we seek.
Confucius said: “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
It is our relationship to what we do and have that is the key. Look at silence. Feel silence. It is something so simple – it is the essence of simplicity. When we come to silence, perhaps it is the first time we have experienced real silence or possibly, we are returning to it after a long absence. When this happens the nature of silence can feel unsettling and awkward. Instead of moving towards it we want to run away.
This happens for many attending a meditation silent retreat for the first time. The silence feels unsettling and difficult to be with, and it is through the determination to stick with the practice that allows the meditator to become familiar and comfortable with the nature of silence. It’s rather like the purchase of new jacket which feels a bit stiff when first worn, but we buy it because we know it’s good quality and we like its design. Then we wear it on and after a while it feels like a second skin and we wouldn’t be seen without it!
Discovering the simplicity of our own body and breath might feel awkward at first, like a new jacket, but after a while we will not want to be any other way.
“Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury – to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind,” said Albert Einstein.
