Latest / Sutra Squad / Ep. 12 - Sutra 1.1 On the Magic, Eternal, Ephemeral Power of NOW
Transcript
- Seth Barron: mere philosophy will not satisfy us. We cannot reach the goal by mere words alone. Without practice, nothing can be achieved. Hello and welcome to the Sutra Squad podcast brought to you by One Deep Breath. My name is Seth Barron and I am joined by the superstar Sutra Squad of Sally Moore. Hello. And Sarah Page Hall. Hello. Let's just quickly check in. What's a word that describes how you feel right now, whichever one of you wants to go first? Grateful and a little overwhelmed and more toward grateful. I am also grateful and I don't know. just, do edgy. I'm a little edgy. I'm a little. Yeah. Yeah. There's like a little extra. Yeah. yeah, I'm right there. ⁓ I think like there's it's like, okay, now it's like, we're starting into the, the, the, like the holidays is about to be like the sort of holiday. The break is about to be over. And it's like, I feel like I'm right on the top of the roller coaster where it gets really slow before it gets really fast. Yep. Amazing. So we're going to begin at the beginning in this moment of an auspicious beginning at the start of a new year and, and really begin, ⁓ our weekly practice of going into more depth of these ancient verses and whether you've studied these texts before or whether this is the first time you're hearing them. Part of what's so amazing about this practice is that we come back to the same words from a new place. We get to maybe the same place, but from a new path. It's never, I'm so excited to sort of revisit an old friend, so to say, is like as the beginning of this text. because it's always so fascinating to see what ⁓ is revealed with the perspective that we have now. So we're looking at Sutra 1.1, ⁓ which is the first verse of the first chapter. The first chapter of the Yoga Sutra is the Samadhi Pada. And Samadhi means ⁓ bliss, enlightenment, total absorption, nirvana. It's the... It's the final stage of the yogic progression, the eighth limb, it's said, of the eightfold path of yoga, the ashtanga yoga system that begins with the yamas, the nyayamas, then to asana and pranayama, then the... No, I was gonna say, Rima gave a... One of my teachers gave a really beautiful talk about how Pratyahara is the bridge. ⁓ from the external to the internal, from the sort of, I know, Pratyahara is usually translated as sensory withdrawal. ⁓ It's like when you close your eyes to meditate. And I love that framing, that it's it's sort of the journey from the gross to the subtle, like the external to the internal. And then the next limbs of the harana, concentration, the jhana, sustained concentration or meditation, and then samadhi. And we'll talk a lot. As we go about the structure of the Yoga Sutra text, there's four chapters or padas or steps, and it goes from the Samadhi pada to the Sadhana pada, the sort of chapter on practice. So it's like, okay, here's where you're going. And then here's how to get there. And then the third chapter, the Vibhuti pada, which is usually translated as the chapter on mystic powers. And so that's like the, like what arises along the path as you keep going. And then the Kaivalya pada. chapter on freedom, is, you could say, describes the... If Samadhi is the state, kaivalya, you could say is almost like the feeling of freedom or liberation. But we begin at the beginning, and every moment is a beginning, and it's something that's really fascinating. We see our lives in these really long ⁓ eras, or we... create all these sort of arbitrary ⁓ increments of time from the Ksana, which we talked about a few weeks ago, like the smallest increment of time in Sanskrit, which is translated as a moment, ⁓ to like a Yuga, which is like an age or an epic, right? According to the Vedic calendar, we're living in the Kali Yuga. But it's always now. So I'm going to chant the verse and then we're going to talk about it. ⁓ And it's verse 1.1. The words are Atha, Yoga, Anushasanam. And the A sound at the end of Yoga and the beginning of Anushasanam come together. And a whole set of grammatical rules of Sanskrit. when pronounced as a verse, it's pronounced Atha, Yoga, Anushasanam. ⁓ And it's another note about pronunciation. If you're reading along in ⁓ any number of copies of the translations of the Yoga Sutra and you see the Sanskrit transliterated, it's usually spelled A-T-H-A, ⁓ which is not A-THA, which is how we would pronounce it in English. In Sanskrit, Hs are letters that are aspirated as opposed to a compound sound like a TH in English, like my name Seth. But instead, and when we pronounce Sanskrit, it's ⁓ a-th-ha, if you're getting technical. A-th-ha. And that shows up all kinds of places. Adho is another one, A-D-H-O, like as in adho mukha. There it is again, K-H-A. Adho mukha shvanasana, downward facing down. All right, but let's do the verse. Maybe take a moment and adjust your seat to just pay attention to how you're sitting right now. And notice if that was like a change or not. It doesn't matter which, it just matters that you notice it. And if you wanna close your eyes, you could do that too. A little moment of pratyahara. And if you like, can bring your palms together in front of your chest in Anjali Mudra and join me to make one's vibration of Om. Take a deep breath in. Let it go. for om inhale. Uhhhh Verse 1.1. ⁓ At-haa yogaa nu-shaa sanam. Atha Yoga Nushasanam I'm just noticing right now that there's something, there is something about Sanskrit that is like calming to the nervous system or at least to mine. ⁓ Like anytime, I don't know if either of you have had this moment of like feeling afraid or like when the breath starts to get away from you. out in the world and like you just sort of like a mantra comes to mind. And it's ⁓ said in many lineages that Sanskrit is ⁓ also a vibrational language, that its impact, its value to us transcends just the rational understanding of like this word means that. And that because it's a spiritual language, it has an impact on our bodies at that vibrational, cellular, atomic level, you could say. So as we continue to explore the text, don't worry about knowing every word, don't worry about it. Sometimes it's actually really quite beautiful ⁓ to just let it wash over you and just take it in and trust you'll receive benefit. So these three words, atta yoga anushasanam, atta. is now. And I quite love that like Master Patanjali, whether he was a real person or an avatar of the divine or all the above, ⁓ I think it's no accident that the first word of the first verse is now. I think there no accidents anywhere in the text is my personal belief, but it means now and ⁓ Often there's a sense of of like an auspiciousness implied in the now, that there's something both eternal and ephemeral, right? Eternal as in it's always now and ephemeral as in like when we reach for it, it's immediately out of our grasp. Like if we're like trying to grab at now. And we'll definitely talk about that. So atta now, yoga. So people use this word a lot and next week we'll go, or in our next episode, we'll go into more detail about like what Master Patanjali, how he describes yoga. But... ⁓ Maybe let's take our own paths for a moment ⁓ at like, what is yoga? Or is there a translation that either of you guys have seen around the word that ⁓ you find resonant? Yoga to me is like, living in the moment and understanding the difference between past and future and like being, I was just thinking it's like- pause on that for a second. That just shook me a second. Understanding the difference between past and future. Yeah, for me, so I was actually for the first time in all these studies, This week I was looking at some of the introductions to my books, which are really quite big and really informative. And I tend to pass over them and go to Sutra 1.1. And I thought, preparing myself for my life means taking care of myself. It means taking rest or being out in the sunshine or preparing myself to be open to the moment. And to me, that's yoga is training ourselves because I always think it's not about clearing your mind or it's about being aware that this mind is happening and this outside world is happening and this inside world is happening and not getting stuck in any one of those corners, but being able to be, be instead of do, be my life. I've never, I mean, this is just coming out of my mouth right now, but I'm just thinking about, yeah. So for me, yoga is life. I love that sense of like the discernment of the, like, that it is not. Cause you know, sometimes, you know, we tend to have a preference toward the positive, but it's useful sometimes to look at the negative and it's like what it is not is the past or the future. Right. it's seeing where the past and the future collide into the present, the future dreams. And not letting that take you out, but just sort of like having that like, I can see this. It's the seeing. It's the observer, right? It's the witness. Yeah. With ease though. It is not what is. I want that to be, but that's not what is now. And can I embrace embrace what is and move forward? with what is. So that's like a lengthy description. mean, I think when people walk into the studio and if they ask things like I'm, I do say it's like, and when people say, I haven't been to yoga for so long. It's like, ⁓ is it that you haven't been to yoga practice? But my guess is you're doing yoga in line at the grocery store or struggling to pay a bill like it's all yoga. are struggling with your computer. Yeah. It's a real moment of presence, Like struggle, like, struggle, like, like nails us in the present moment. Doesn't it? There's a wonderful line in the office and it never has stayed. It is never, you know what I'm going to say? No, but I love that we can find yoga everywhere. We it in the snowboard and the office. And it stays with me and it goes to presence. It goes to living in the moment. Andy Bernard says, it's at the very end and it's the finale or whatever, and he says, I wish we knew that the good old days were the good old days when we were living in them. And I thought that's so true because we live in so much regret of the past. ⁓ I loved that. That was great. As opposed to saying that was a really good experience, but this is a really good experience too. And one day we're going to look back at this and go, this was a really great experience instead of enjoying and really savoring. That was a beautiful experience, period. Yeah, period. But we get very nostalgic. Yes, we do. Or I'll speak from eye. I do get very nostalgic, you know? And I find it sometimes difficult. My brain is breathing towards what I have to get done to leave for India as opposed to enjoying the class I'm going to have or enjoying this moment right here with the two of you. And, you know, these are the good old days. Well, and everything matters. I mean, I think that's the... is every minute, every second matters, right? And I love, I do think right now in this time of Instagram and where everything looks so much easier, I don't know about y'all, but for me, everyone else's life looks so much easier. Like, how, my baseboards are dirty, like how is that? And then I love when people show one picture with everything perfect and clean baseboards, and another picture with the absolute mayhem that's... they slide it all the dust over to the other side. And for me, yoga is the dust and the clean baseboard. This ability to discern the past, present and future feels so deeply yogic because like we have this tendency to yearn for what was and it'll never be because time doesn't work like that. Like when you hear somebody say, I just wanted to, I wish thing would go back to the way they were. Or if you know people who live in that place, of pining for what was. like, you know, that's a, that to me is like, that's like ⁓ a, that's the express lane to suffering. Because like, you're setting yourself up to fail. It won't be, it can't be. And not only that, it probably, it's probably being idealized in this moment. You know, and if you remember the edges around that one moment that you're trying to get back to, they probably were messy. Or they were probably edgy, but there was one glowing moment. You're like, ⁓ well, you forgot what it took to get there and what happened after. And that the future is inherently unknowable. It's like the truest, most profound mystery with which we all have to live and reconcile because none of us knows what will come. If you do, by the way, please reach out to me and be a guest on our podcast and tell us the future. ⁓ Take over the podcast. I'm out of here. ⁓ Please Guruji, teach me. And pen the children in like... who's an amazing Buddhist ⁓ nun and writes hope beautifully and sometimes a little provocatively in that like when you really sit with some of her writings, it's like really, it's pretty tough. And she has a whole essay in one of my favorite of her books, When Things Fall Apart, because they do, they have, they will again. And there's an essay she writes in which she says like you have to give up, she says, she talks about giving up hope. Because hope is a yearning for an expectation of what you want something to be. And it inevitably will get in the way of your ability to see it and be with it as it is. And there's the, I've even noticed this, ⁓ and I've tried to, I've taken a little experiment in the past couple of months. I used to say hope a lot, like hope you have a great day. As opposed to, if you notice a lot of Buddhists do this, but they say, your day be blessed and useful. Right, or may the year bring you blessings of abundance as opposed to have a great year. Or hope you have a great year. I don't know, sometimes those little linguistic things, can be a little eye-rolly, but it can also be a really interesting ⁓ shift in perspective. Because the yoga, in its most literal sense, means to connect, to join, to unite, to bring together, union. In Inside Potential, these words by... modern master Reverend Jagannath Kareya. There's this really fascinating ⁓ little, two little paragraphs that I thought I'd share on this. Although yoga can be translated as union, it also includes any and all means that are employed to attain or experience union. All of one's spiritual practices and lifestyle. This implies that yoga includes much more than the practice of pastures, breathing techniques, mudras, bandhas. These practices were dubbed hatha, meaning forceful, to differentiate them from practices such as meditation in which the body was not the center of practice. Yoga, taken in its fullest sense, is holistic, helps to purify body, mind, and spirit in order to attain, quote, easeful body, a peaceful mind, and to lead a useful life. close quote, as Swami Satyamanda often explained, another favorite translator of the Yoga Sutras in this podcast, we love him. These benefits combine to bring the secret to spiritual liberation, Kaivalya, also called enlightenment, self-realization, samadhi, nirvana, regardless of the final goal, of what the final goal is named. It refers to nothing less than the destruction of ignorance and the suffering it brings. And then we should quickly take a moment and just touch on the last word, Anushasanam, instruction, direction, teaching, knowledge. And Master Korea offers this as a revealing way of translating the sutra using the root words of all of these as a guide. After our previous knowledge and experience of yoga, now arrives this auspicious time when instruction in yoga is offered with correction of misperceptions and the removal of doubt. Well, and can I share, because I loved some of his commentary. He also has a ⁓ book inside the Yoga Sutras, which I also really love, but I want to share. So I really like the translation from, I keep going to her. ⁓ Secret Power of Yoga by Nichola Joy-Devey. She says 1.1, with humility and open heart and mind, we embrace the sacred study of yoga, which I love that. And I'm getting the preparation, the preparation it requires to keep your heart open and your mind open. But then ⁓ Reverend Jagannath Carrera has a few lines in his commentary ⁓ and it says, ⁓ Not later, not soon, now. If we wish to understand the principles of yoga, our minds can't be bogged down in the past or fretting about the future. He continues to say, be alert, stay focused. For any doubts you have concerned the timeless teaching of yoga will now be erased." And I was like, wow. Yeah, there is that call. It's like, wake up. I can I love this. wanted to just go back kind of old school the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. And what he says, what such a dhananda says, and I and it goes to the now is, you know, direct instruction on how to practice it mere philosophy will not satisfy us. We cannot reach the goal by mere words alone. Without practice, nothing can be achieved. And that I think is for me, you know, I teach a lot of yoga. I'm blessed. teach a lot of yoga. It's exhausting sometimes and I don't get on my mat. And I know every time I get on my mat, I am better. always, always. And it's like, have got to make the time to practice now, you know, and that to me, this, this is like, okay, I hear you. I hear you, dad. I know, I know, I know I need to get on my mat because it, can talk. We can talk. We love to talk. We love to get into it. We love to dig through it. But if we're not doing it, which is to me, what yoga is yoga is doing. And for me too, you were asking what is yoga. For me, yoga is community. Plain and simple. mean, there's a lot, but to me it is literally community, the yoking, the bringing together of people and ideas and thoughts. And not one down dog is done. That's the asana. So for me, yoga is about like we're doing yoga right now. Going through this book, these books over and over and over again, like maybe the first time through it was just I was trying too hard to understand, to understand every word, like listening and trying and trying. And then now, now I feel like, I think it's our sixth time through, maybe seventh, I have no clue, but it feels like so much more accessible, like to become an embodied, you know, and I have so much more to learn, actually to unlearn probably for me. That's the beauty of, if the best we can do in studying these sutras, if this is brand new to you, just... take what serves you and let it go. Like, don't try too hard and allow yourself the pace because I'm feeling like now, like, ⁓ this feels so exciting when we start this every time. Every time we get together, my mood, you know, can be one thing. We were talking, it's been very gray. We're on opposite ends of the country and it's still been cold and gray. And we were like, it's heavy. gets heavy for me. It gets heavy. And then we start talking and it's like, the sun is coming from within. Well, full transparency, full transparency before we got on, it was edgy. It was edgy. We're tired. I was having computer issues. ⁓ There was a lot of that. But as soon as we came on and Seth, when, going to your point of, don't know if anybody ever has the experience of when you chant. immediately. The Sanskrit is vibrational and there is a calm that comes in it and immediately it does, Sally. The first time we went through it, I spent a lot of time trying to act like I knew what I was doing because I didn't want people to find out that I was a fraud. And then once the second time I went through it, I didn't really care so much because it wasn't as, you know, I think we spend, I speak for mine, I think I spend a lot of time. trying not, you know, not anymore, not as much anymore, but early on trying to show people that I wasn't stupid. I know this stuff, I can do this stuff that, that, and look, I can say the deepest thing and now I can be, I can, and, I'm so this, I'm so yogaic, I'm so this and that. And it's not that. Well, I think the yoga is like saying, I'm human and I'm trying and I'm studying and I'm also eating candy bars for dinner and sometimes like. But that's what this is. That's what this is. This is the spine, as Seth says sometimes, this is the spine of, you know, I don't love the word right living, but in a way it is. And it's a great way to forgive yourself for all of the chitta, the mind stuff that you think you are. You know, I just get on here now. mean, literally, I have given myself more grace and forgiveness since going through this. Now yoga. Well, you know, and like that's a funny word, right? Mm hmm. You know, it's interesting, by the way, because the Buddhists used the word right pretty unashamedly. The Noble Eightfold Path starts with right vision. And what if, like so many other words, we have made things mean things? What if right means clear or honest or in the moment? what if... This is the other interesting... So I'm kind of jumping forward, but one of the stories I was saw in my book when I was doing was about like entering a dimly lit room and thinking you see a snake in the corner and having all the experiences of being in a dark room with a snake and the physical feelings and all that. And then someone simply turns on the lights and you see a coiled up rope, but you still have all the sensations. So. What if right living is accepting the sensations and just continuing to seek the truth of the moment? I feel this, can I seek the truth? And can I honor what I'm feeling like, ⁓ I feel like to me that's a huge part of yoga. It's interesting because I'm looking at it. I look it up because that's what I do. I enjoy doing that sometimes. And it's interesting what they say. And I think that this is one of the reasons why right can be a very tricky word because the first word is morally. And that's kind of like, know, but it says more justified or acceptable. then if you go down, it says true or correct as fact. And I like the word true. I like the word true. I think that that would be something that, you know, well, isn't there a line. I'm pretty sure it's in the Baptiste methodology about doubting your doubts. know, is right living about really trying to get clear or true. And even with moral judgment, you know, what are we judging? First of all, like that's literally what you just said, Sally, of like the difference between past, present and future. That the right... isn't the same sort of right wrong, like binary paradigm. It's the discernment, not judgment, but the discernment. And this is a really subtle point that we'll explore all the way through because it is also true that like there is a discernment about what is and is not. about what is true and what is not true. And it shows up all through the text, right? Like, It shows up all through the text. It's also funny how we're using that word now culturally as a way of self-affirmation, as to assume that the other person agrees with you. We're not asking, we're telling. which is, it's one I'm trying to interrupt because I notice it in all kinds of weird little places, but it's like a sort of current cultural tick in a lot of US pop culture. People are going on, right? But they don't, they're not, it sounds like a question, but they're not asking a question. They're validating and like, and it's a weird thing. Like, right? As in, am I correct? They're not waiting for an answer. They're just moving forward. God, I'm loving this conversation. Like, I'm just like, ⁓ the preparation to take care of yourself, the preparation to get rest, to be open. You know, it takes, I've never considered the preparation. I just thought you should always be ready. But what does the Baptiste method teach us about being ready? You're ready now. But the thing is for me, if you're exhausted and running from thing to thing and then the back of your mind is you've signed up to get somewhere else, to me the preparation, I'm really glad. We're moving to Tuesdays. To me that's preparation, right? And so that's the thing is giving yourself some space. to to be to limb, not push, push, push, push, push, push, push. And this is like a sense of that middle path that it's like. ⁓ There's of course there's preparation and there's a lot of value in it and that like it's now. You're ready now. This is what we do as humans though, right? The extreme is preparation is well, shit, I gotta lose 20 pounds. I gotta get my hair longer. I gotta erase these wrinkles. I lose 20 pounds. I'll be happy when my hair is a different color. I'll be happy when I... Different. See, this is once again different than wow. The days are short and I'm pushing myself long. I'm dancing till 4th of the morning and then having a bunch of people over and then saying to myself. do such a crazy thing like that? And I'm a yogi so I should be completely present with the computer problems. Like, you know what I mean? Like, that's what's so interesting, the difference between you are ready now and are you choosing your life and your time wisely? And there's a time where it really fulfills your heart to dance till 4.30 in the morning. So it's not like anything's off the table. No, and it's like, and because it's all because it's both, right? It's all and it's all of it. It's like that now it's now it's now and I'll get ready for now so that the next now maybe is a little bit. I have a little bit more to to offer or I can go deeper in the now of now of that of soon. Yeah. Yeah, so it's not putting things off until, but it's also give myself five breath. Like the five breath thing was so funny because yesterday my grandson was just being an asshole. And I was like, five breaths, dude. Like he had a couple and then I'm like five breaths in the other room. And I could hear him going one, two, three, four, five and come back. I go, your energy has not shifted. I didn't say count to five, go take five breaths. One, two, nope. And then finally he took five breaths and he came back and you could see his whole being looked different. Sally, why is it so often that we cue in a mindfulness practice, in a meditation, dare I say, that we use a cue to pay attention to your breath? I say, and I think I got this from Sarah Page, like the breath is a two-way process. You're breathing in or you're breathing out. There's a slight pause between, but it does help singly focus the mind. It brings everything together. And it is interesting because I've noticed I use it with my grandson, my other kids, they're a little young, but we're going to start it young. And I can see that it changes chemistry. Focusing on your breath and taking the breath. My grandson tries to shortcut sometimes and he just goes, one, two, three, four, five. And I go, no, no, no. You're not breathing. That's also right vision. Like what is and what is not. I said, take five deep breaths. You counted to five, not the same. One's not right, one's not wrong. But what I asked you to do and then what you did. And I've noticed I was thinking about when I feel most present, you know, I tend to snap into presence for others fairly quickly. I... I'm teaching a yoga class, like I take it very seriously that people are spending their time, their energy and their money with me. And so I take it seriously with my grandkids. They could be hurt if I don't want their the age, some of them that it's dangerous. But what I've noticed to me is I'm most present when I'm committed to what I'm doing. And often my noted down, I need to take it home. I need to take a lion's breath. I need to take five deep breaths like all those. vibrate something, they calm, you know, all these practices are used. when we were talking earlier about preparation for the now, the now is happening. So whether or not we're prepared, it's happening. But the more we can like, ⁓ I need a breath here. ⁓ The more we are prepared to take in, I don't think we can bypass the preparedness and we need to move with it. It's totally both. It's like, there's no way around it. The only way out is through. And I like to say that... Your breath. is always with you. Until it's not. And then we'll see on the other side. Right. The first thing. Oh, okay. Um, like, you know, the first thing we do is inhale. The last thing we will do on this plane of awareness is exhale. Yeah. It's so interesting. Cause even that life is an inhale and an exhale. You don't enter life on an exhale and you don't exit this world on an inhale. So it is one breath, one movement, one moment. It's one breath, one moment and... ⁓ And it's, and it is like... ⁓ And so, and the breath is both, then now I'm gonna get a little physiological nerdy, like the breath is an autonomic process of your body, right? So if you get into ⁓ like, we can get a little Western about it, right? You have an autonomic nervous system, which is like what controls the fundamental homeostasis of your body. as in, you don't know how, like you don't actually consciously know the intricate sequence of muscles that that beat your heart Right, like it's a muscle and has all these sub muscles They fire differently because the blood moves through four different chambers and it moves in one direction through those chambers And then so like this is like there's this like that's the boom boom boom we hear like you're not doing that Consciously just happens and your breath like you're not always breathing consciously. It just happens you will breathe but your breath is the most accessible system of your body to bring from the autonomic to the central nervous system as in so that you can then ⁓ actually control that process in an aware, informed, intentional way. And then you get into the fact that because the trachea, the windpipe, is abutted by the ⁓ vagus nerve, and now I'm gonna go polyvagal here, ⁓ which is that So first of all, taking a deep breath is a stroke of your vagus nerve. taking a deep breath is like, it's literally like, there's an intuitive truth to it. what, like, like yoga smoga, when somebody is like, when you were a little kid and you were getting worked up, what, what did an adult tell you to do is like, take a deep breath, like take a breath. and, and like what, what we're doing is engaging in a parasympathetic nervous system activation. So you have a sympathetic nervous system, fight, fight, freeze. You have a parasympathetic nervous system, which is your body's re-regulation sort of instinct. And the breath will engage when we, like that, it's like a stroke of the polyvagal theory of the vagus nerve to come back. And your breath only exists in the present moment. Your breath is never before or soon. It's always now, always. always, every time. And if you say to a room of yogis, okay, like, you know, all three of us give asana class, like if you were to just walk into the room and say, okay, everybody get present. People would look at you, right, I mean, you both laughed, people would look at you like you're actually crazy because that's just an idea, that's a concept. But you can say, take a nice tall seat. Close your eyes or set your eyes to one spot and let go of anything else except to just put your attention on the physical experience of your breath. Not the idea of it, not what you hope it is, not how you want it to be with nothing to manage, handle, fix or change. Just observe and in the observation continue to notice even the more subtle sensations of breathing in. and breathing out. Like there is no more foundational, simple, accessible. I mean, let's be honest with what it is. It's a meditation technique. It's tantra. It's the body as a point of access to that sense of presence. But it's also nondogmatic. It's also accessible to every single human being. And when people say, I can't clear my mind, I can't meditate, I can't do any of those things, my response is always like, okay, great. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. You can put your attention on an object with intention. Like you are capable of doing that. Like I know that you are because you're a human being, like period. Right? You're capable of putting your attention on what I'm saying to you right now. So you're capable of putting your attention on feeling your breath and just take it one breath at a time. Don't worry about your thoughts. swimming around, let them swim. Like you put your attention on your breath. And when your mind gets distracted, okay, your mind got distracted. You come back and do it again and do it again and however many times it takes. We're not gonna be here too long. Don't worry about it. Again, I found that even that as an offering really starts to shift people's perception. Because when you say to people, OK, we're going to meditate, people get really weird. Or if you say, let's get present, people don't even know what that means. that is a practice. To go back to the first thing you said, Sally, I'm obsessed with this. going to be chewing on this for all year. The yoga is a practice in which we cultivate the discernment between the past, present, and the future. and telling ourselves that was then, is, that is not now, and I don't know what will be. Like that, like that, that might be a point of practice for 2026 that I'm going to really focus in on. It's funny that you're talking about time because I had this really big realization over the New Year's holiday that 2026 marks the year that there is more time since. than from a really big inflection point in my life, right? Like it's, I will have been divorced longer than I was married. Like I was, I'm out of that relationship longer than I was in that relationship. And there's something really fascinating about that. Like click that turn of the wheel. It's sort of arbitrary, but it's like kind of not. and so like, yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead. ⁓ I just, I've thinking about things like this too, because the power of now is also, it includes all this information, right? The power, this moment does include a lot of information and when we can discern and watch it instead of making too much meaning out of it, right? Because I have also, I was thinking last night in a not great period moment in my life about my divorce. And I was like, that was 30 years ago, 30 years ago. And how much am I going to allow something that was 30 years ago disrupt my sleep today? Right. ⁓ The distraction of the pad, like it's okay to say, wow, I need a little hug about that. That was hard. I'm still carrying that forward. What about that? Am I still carrying forward? And can I discern Because my biggest struggles happen when I don't have the space to discern that was then, this is now. And how much now, because then I think another big thing of yoga is this not considering how short life is, the fear of death, basically, I think they call it, but it's... Like I am living like I have forever to live if I am really getting caught up in that swirl story that is actually 30 years in the past. And it's not, it's not say, Hey, there's some pain here, but what do I want to do today? You know? So I think like remember this life, don't take it for granted. Yes, and I think Sally is what I'm thinking towards what you were saying. Yeah, it was 30 years ago and some people will probably be like, you know, get over it. I don't think that because the ramifications, the residue is still now. You're still raising your children. You're still raising your grandchildren. That's all part of the divorce. That's all part of whatever trauma, you know, occurred. The residue, the simsacra is now. And so Because I had a moment with my therapist after a traumatic breakup, it was one of those sort of, aren't you going to get over this? And I had to say, I'll get over it when I get over it. I'll get over it when I get over it. That will happen when it happens. And I'm not going to rush those things. So if it still hurts 30 years later, 60 years later, ⁓ I think it deserves to be looked at. think it deserves to be dealt with. Whatever needs to happen happens. looked at as well as to but like with that discernment that yes it was and it's not now is and that's that's the gift of now that's the gift of clear thinking that is the gift instead of right vision again like that turning when I was trying to go to sleep I was doing more reliving reliving reliving reliving reliving reliving And another option is like, ⁓ I see you reliving. Like what part of you is really hurt or what dream are you still holding onto that you could like just create more distance from? Because I find the more distance I can find, the more I can say, ⁓ my God, being human, is about there's pain and there's ups and there's downs. we don't, I mean, we don't know what we don't know until we know what we don't know. But even the witnessing of it is radically different. That's the right vision. And discussing it with you guys right now feels really different than being caught in the movie. You know what I mean? Like, I become an actress in the movie versus like, oof, I see this. And then I can actually see the pain and I can see where I could be more gentle on myself. know? Right. And that's the yoga. I do think discernment. That's That's the bringing it together. That was, it is not what is. My thoughts last night weren't that different than the rope in the corner of the room. In the darkness, there isn't discernment, right? There's simply fear and pain. But when you turn on the lights, which I think is what we're doing with ⁓ seeking clarity and truth, Then there's room for the pain, but it's not suffocating. It's there and it's not to be bypassed, but it's not in the dark, it's in the light. I was thinking about it. It's one of my favorite quotes that I paraphrased from Ram Dass, the incredible modern spiritual master is, And he said, and by the way, he was speaking when he gave this quote, he was speaking to think of the second ever conference of like around Buddhism and psychology in the West. And it was like in the eighties. And he said, ⁓ never once have I resolved a single one of my neuroses. And they used to be these like big, awful demons who would like take over and run amok and make a mess. But now I see them and they're just like old friends, like they're little schmooze who I can invite in for tea. there's and like, and that's the that also this is 100 % not where I thought we would take this conversation. And it's so amazing. Because like the union the yoga of being able to say, Oh, Wow, 30 years ago I experienced something, 13 years ago I experienced something terrible and traumatic and I can still feel the pang of sadness of it and it's not what's happening right now. That was, it's not what is. And that discernment and the right vision of saying that was very painful and I still can feel, like I can feel that. I can still feel the pain of that and can still feel the sadness of the person who lived through that, but that's not me. That's Seth. Seth at 34 is not Seth at 47. I don't know, Seth 5.9 and now it's like 322.6. I don't know. But that Seth at 34 is not this Seth sitting here with you right now at 47. I'll never be that Seth again. It's just not possible. I can't fix it. I can't change it. I can't do it any differently. No matter what I tell myself or how many times I've spent thinking how what I should have done, could have done, didn't do, run that list down. And that's the misunderstanding of it. The clarity of now is to say like, wow, that Seth at 34. went through some really hard stuff. made a lot of mistakes and made a lot of great choices, both. And Seth at 47 can both feel the pain of that experience and know that it's, and it's, that was, it's not what is. So what you were speaking about to what Rima said, it's the bridge of Pratyahara. It's that bridge. Yeah. From the gross to the subtle, the external. analogy. I'm to be working on that. That's a great analogy. And that will always bring us back to now. will always bring us back to right now. Right now, what is right now? What is, you know, like it's also where like a lot, you know, there's some great mindfulness practices around like what's something you can, like naming something you see, something you smell, something you taste, something you feel, something you hear. Because your physical sensations, right, all come back to now. Or just, again, like I'm... I am a human being having a memory of something that happened in the past. You know, it's crazy. I'm listening to you guys and I'm just having this thought. I'm not a therapist, but I'm wondering, does the healing probably always happens in the now? Everything happens in the now. So when we get now, we can see the pain. I think I was also 34. Isn't that crazy? I'm just a little different in age right now. I was just doing the math and thinking, crazy. What happens when you're 34? Be careful. Seriously. I'm thinking about it. I think that's true. this is so empowering. Like, no matter what the suffering, the samskara, the haunting that still is calling for some attention, the healing happens. And then now we didn't miss the window to heal. What we get to here and now, the healing is possible. And how many times do we say, ⁓ I'll do that later? I'm not going to deal with that right now. I'll deal with that later. And when it comes to our emotions. I'll unpack this later. I'll do this later. What's wrong with doing it now? With just sitting down, taking the breath. Yeah. Now, that's you're ready now. You're ready now when you get present ready now. I that's the Baptiste Come from you already now. Come from you already now. Move, breathe, and have your... Yeah, come from you already now. Move, breathe, and have your being from... Right now is all I got. Make the higher call at every step. I still can't believe you remember all that. Right. The higher call we've got to make. You're good at it. that's my Satisfati Yoga in my Vedic astrology chart because that's learning, intelligence, intellect, education, music, arts. Anyway, I just found out that I have this very interesting and I guess auspicious arrangement of planetary bodies in my Vedic chart. got to learn a lot more now. ⁓ But now it's time to wrap it up. So ⁓ every week we offer a point of inquiry. ⁓ Sarah Page, what's your inquiry for the week? Wow, got a lot going on. What I would say is, ⁓ where are you rushing ahead? And why? Why are you doing it? I think that we do it, but until we know why we do it, it doesn't get healed. doesn't doesn't – why am I rushing ahead? What is it I'm trying to what am I trying to release? Okay. I have my little string here. Am I ready to meet and be my true self? What is my commitment to being fully present and engaged in my life moment to moment? And how might I my life change through discernment and doing the healing work now? ⁓ I thought we were, I had something else, I think I want to go with. ⁓ was, is, will be, and just pay attention to how your mind traverses those spaces. Don't worry about not to change, not to make right or wrong or anything else. Just get into the practice of, even for yourself, defining the thought, is it about what was? Is it about what will be? Is it about what is? And just focus. or spend a little time on noticing was, is, will be, because that practice of cultivating the discernment will always give space for clarity to arise. Okay, and we're also all yoga teachers, we're all Asana instructors. And so we offer a teaching tip and as Sally said it, the best teacher is the one on your mat. So whether or not you teach 20 classes a week or you're a new yoga student and you're gonna be the best teacher you ever find. So these teaching tips are for everybody, however they are useful to you. Page with the teaching tip of the week. For me, it would be linking staying in Ujjayi. If you can do it without music, try it without music and just stay in Ujjayi without any extraneous and staying in the present moment. Yeah, I love that one. And notice, I might give a yes and to say and notice if the notice the the edges and the spaces between in that practice of Ujjayi. Do you do you complete and receive the pose at the top and bottom of the breath? Or do you start the next pose before or after the breath cycle? And it's subtle. and just start paying attention to that. Like, can you feel the fullness and look all the way up and fully express upward facing dog before you press back to exhale and arrive at downward facing dog? I find people skip in that what's often what people say like a vinyasa, a, but in that series, because it's very common, right? From halfway lift or long spine to low plank and then upward facing to downward facing, there's like a pause in the, like it's subtle. but a little pause at the bottom of the breath out in Chaturanga before, because it's a difficult pose. Love it. Sally, what's your teaching tip of the week? I'm going to go with press into your physical foundation to support your curiosity and growth and allow that powerful foundation to support like the physical body, but allow the foundation to support a playful and curious mind and allow the foundation to support an open heart. I love that. Yeah, my teaching tip is... ⁓ is like, now doesn't mean it never was. It just means that you get to experience it now and to, ⁓ and like, take the class that's happening now. Don't take the class that you took yesterday or the class you took a year ago or anything else. Just see, like give yourself, like give, like really take this class. Take the class you're taking now, do the pose you're doing right now, notice how it is now. Not what it's supposed to be, not how it was yesterday. I think there's one barren baptism, like today's triumph is tomorrow's ego trip. The first time you get a really tough pose and you're like crushed it, and then the next time you go to take the pose and you fall flat on your face, can you just laugh at that? I cannot just be a little chuckle like, ⁓ well, that's how I showed up today. Different than yesterday. Next. And drop like the thing. And this is Bethany's frame, which I love, but drop the significance of it. Drop the significance and stay grounded in the presence. So like the significance is the judgment of what it's supposed to be or what it should be or what it what you want it to be. That's like all in the significance. The presence is just like, huh, interesting. That's what's going on. Like I have a weird thing. I don't balance as well on my left foot as I do on my right foot. I think of it's an old injury, but it's just like a, just, you know, I just the thing. And it used to, I used to have all this like stuff around the balance series. And I would like, like be all freaked out that like I was going to stumble through half of it. And lately I've just sort of been like, well, maybe let's see what happens when I pick up my right foot. Hey lefty, I know you're, I know you struggle sometimes. Let's just see how you do today. And I got, and that's it. And if I put my foot down again, I put my foot down again. And if I pick it up again, I pick it up again. doesn't mean I'm not intentionally trying to cultivate a continued improved sense of balance on my left foot, but it means that I just don't have as much meaning around it. And instead I just approach it from a place of curiosity of like, are you gonna do today? Only have some magic in the falling out. 100%. Talk about a moment of presence. Talk about a moment of real presence is like the fall, the wobble. You could call that walking up to your edge. It's where the growth happens to it's where the growth happen in life and in your practice. Of course it is. Yeah, it's not, it's not possible anywhere else. The growth is not possible anywhere else because doing what you know, or doing what you've done is like literally the antithesis of growth. Growth requires the discomfort of walking right up to it and saying, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to try. My mother always used to say, if you do what you always did, you're always going to get what you always got. That is wise, right? It's my favorite Einstein quote, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Or nothing changes if nothing changes. Well, where we're ending is not where we started, and that's now. What an amazing new perspective on this verse. My mind is totally blown. And right now, I'm just really in awe of the journey of this last time together and where we started and where we are, very different. Very different. And like, and wow, just like how amazing, right? Transformation happens in big and small ways and it happens when we least expect it. And it's always possible when we start now. Now. So on that note, we love you. We're so grateful. Please, if you found any benefit to what we've shared today, ⁓ like and subscribe to the podcast. And if you know somebody who might find it interesting, compelling, thoughtful, provocative, please share the podcast. All right, so we thank you for listening and I want to thank you, Sarah Page. Thank you. And thank you, Sally. Thank you so much. And really, we're so grateful. I'm so grateful. And we'll see you and hear you or you'll hear us again very soon. Bye for now.