Guest Post: Mary Reese Folger on Yoga & Social Injustice
Mary Rese Folger is a Huron native with strong committments to community and life long learning. When I thought of including something on our blog about yoga as it relates to social issues Mary was the first person I thought to ask and she didn't hesitate before accepting the opportunity. I'm grateful to have a soul like Mary's around; she is always ready to dig deeper and learn more. She teaches Iyengar Yoga in Huron (Wednesday 7:00 - 8:15 AM) and Sandusky (Monday 5:30 - 6:45 PM).
Mary bases her discussion below on the both the 8 limbs of yoga (described in greater detail in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) and also on her understanding of how the physical practice of yoga can contribute to the world at large.
-Shannon Leigh
Yoga & Social Injustice
In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the primary philosophical texts of yoga, Arjuna is told by Krishna that yoga is “perfect evenness of mind” (2:48) and “skill in action” (2:50).
Most of us come to class and develop a yoga practice for personal reasons, perhaps for physical flexibility, strength, balance, and coordination; perhaps for mental calmness and clarity; perhaps for emotional equanimity or perhaps for spiritual spaciousness. We practice the physical postures (asanas), breath work (pranayama), directing senses inward (pratyahara), and begin to practice concentration (dharana) and meditation (dyhana) in order to develop physical, mental, and emotional stability and mobility.
However, we are told that classical yoga is an eight limbed path and that the first two limbs, the social moral injunctions (yamas) and the personal ethical practices (niyamas) are focused on the social order and one’s action in the world. The yamas include nonviolence (ahisma), truth telling (satya), non-stealing (asteya), choosing that which serves or continence (bramacharya), and non-grasping (aparigraha). The niyamas include purity (sauca), contentment (santosa), self-discipline or burning zeal (tapas), self-study and study of sacred texts (svadyaya), and surrender to that which is greater than one’s self (isvarapranidhana).
So what is the relationship between our personal practice on the mat and our action in the world? Between equanimity of body/mind and skillful action?
I like to center that relationship in another yogic principle, that of from the core to the periphery and from the periphery to the core. If we think of the middle limbs of yoga, (asana, pranayama, pratyahara) as the core – we may start our practice there, moving and breathing mindfully, taking our attention inward. We start to see ourselves more clearly. We are more aware of our physical self, we become more clear about our physical and emotional boundaries. And consequently we are more able to be present for others. Our practice moves from the personal core to the interpersonal periphery. Perhaps we are able to be more patient, kinder, less judgmental (ahisma) with our family and friends. Perhaps as we develop consistency in our practice (tapas) we are able to decrease the urge to accumulate (aparigraha) and we find ourselves more content with our current life situation as well as that of others (santosa). Perhaps our practice extends from the personal core to the periphery of the natural world and we become more committed to a more sustainable lifestyle (bramacharya, sauca). Perhaps our practice extends from the personal core to social activism (ahisma, satya) as we strive to create a world where the benefits of yoga are available for all.
In whatever way we move outward from our personal practice on the mat to the larger world, from a yogic perspective, we balance that movement by returning to the core. We continue to seek for our essential self and to understand how we fit into the universe (svadyaya). We balance Krishna’s injunctions of skillful action in the world and evenness of mind. Sometimes this movement from the core to the periphery and back to the core is sequential, sometimes simultaneous. Perhaps as the movement continues, we transcend to a more seamless way of being; we tap into the eighth limb, samadhi (absorption). But even in samadhi, we are not separate from the greater world, we are at the periphery of all that is while also being in the core of all that is.
In this way, yoga is not separate from life in the world. As we maintain and develop our on-the-mat yoga practice, our action-in-the world becomes more infused with our essential self. We move in the world with equanimity of body/mind and with unique skillful action.
Namaste,
Mary