The solution to suffering…

anything that works for you.

Sutra 1.32 says that obstacles can be removed by the practice of concentration upon a single truth. The next six sutras give specific suggestions for points of focus to remove all of our obstacles to live a peaceful existence. The final sutra (1.39) on the subject basically says, “…or whatever works for you.”

Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati’s translation says peace can be found,

“by contemplating or concentrating on whatever object or principle one may like, or towards which one has a predisposition, the mind becomes stable and tranquil. “

I love this! Do this, or that, or that, or whatever works.

Letting go of obstacles is a funny thing. “We often start an intention to improve ourselves (as we would say), let go of obstacles (as yoga philosophy would say), with an idealistic view about what we will do and how we will be and then, we are quickly thrown into reality of who we currently are.” Pema Chodron

When we decide to begin a patience practice we often think that we will be oozing patience from our pores when really, we simply become hyper aware of every moment that we are impatient. We may even begin to feel like a more impatient person than when we began practicing patience and feel like we are going backwards! No matter what we choose, this happens. If we choose to focus on quieting the mind, we suddenly notice all the random thoughts running through our minds endlessly. If we do finally quiet the mind, sometimes we are shocked by all the junk left by years of habits, memories, and experiences we are now aware of. When we begin learning about proper alignment and safety in our physical yoga practice, we suddenly notice every moment we are out of alignment and our practice is doing more harm than good to our bodies. When we truly let go of ego, sometimes we even realize that we aren’t ready for variations of poses that we once regularly practiced. Or, we realize that the hardest versions of a pose don’t serve us as well because they aren’t as effective as the simpler ones.

More and more often I hear students who have practiced with me for years say that they sometimes feel like they get more out of the beginner classes, that it seems like a better class for them even though they can safely practice at a more challenging level. When we make it easier on ourselves, we can succeed and enjoy the process instead of constantly working and never measuring up.

This sutra is all about choosing what works for us and starting where we are.

When we want to be compassionate or forgiving or generous or playful or focused or have a regular meditation practice or eat healthy or practice yoga every day for an hour, whatever it is, we’ve got to do what works for us in the moment. We might not yet be capable of being compassionate for those who we feel are evil, or of forgiving someone who hurt us deeply, or be able to stay still long enough for the meditation practice we’ve chosen.

When we can’t accomplish our ideal, we can choose a practice, or an intensity of practice, that brings us closer to our best. We choose to play with something we can accomplish completely and whole heartedly and it still increases our ability to meet our goals. If we can’t feel empathy for an abusive person, maybe we can practice feeling empathy for the child who lost their dog. If we can’t practice a binding twisting lunge with space, stability, and ease, we can teach our body space, stability and ease is a simpler variation. If we can’t sit and silently quiet the mind, we can use a mantra, a candle, a breath pattern, and a shorter time period to experience a moment of focus. One moment of focus is more useful than 30 minutes of torture.

Doing these seemingly easy tasks increases our capacity for us to become the peaceful person we dream of.

Yoga is a practice. In order to release suffering, we do what we are currently capable of and work to bring the mind to stillness. We must have patience and know that our practice is moving us closer to where we want to be.

With simple, accomplishable practices we slowly increase our capacity for wholeness to include even what we were once unable to do.  Our capacity for peace will expand to meet our ideals, our peace ‘muscle’ strengthens, defines, and suddenly supports us completely.

To end suffering, we do whatever works for us at an intensity we are currently capable of. 

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