Look inside The Tao of Yoga
Youtube videos with words and music by Ana Moves
Photographs by Cristina Sánchez Escandell
The Tao of Yoga – Poem 3
Poem 3
Commentary
When highly skilled practices are glorified
people feel unable.
When odd rituals are overvalued
people begin to dress with the emperor’s new clothes.
Therefore, the Yogi leads by emptying people’s minds
of yogic concepts
and feeding their souls with the truths of their own practice;
by weakening their ambition to accomplish far-fetched ideals
and strengthening their ability
to honour their inner genuineness.
He challenges people out of dogma and knowledge
and confuses those who think
they already know.
He does not have to impress others
with his cleverness and skilfulness
so his practice has become flawless
Rather than seeing this journey as an endless process of selfenquiry, we seek the knowledge we admire in others as a goal that we will achieve by adding on the correct behaviours. This is what leads us astray. We then enter the swampy lands of comparison,of empty rituals that make us look “more” spiritual. The more we seek to attain this external knowledge the further away we are from the wisdom of our own practice. The yogis we look up to got there by honouring their own paths.
What places in your body has your practice opened today? How does it feel? What is the new you have embraced? Let this be all you know
The Tao of Yoga – Poem 12
Poem 12
Commentary
Looking like a Yogi eclipses your inner light.
Talking like a Yogi mutes your inner voice.
Behaving like a Yogi dilutes your authenticity.
Plotting ways to achieve success in your practice
imprisons you within the bars of your conditioned mind.
Desiring who you are not withers your heart.
Unattached to an outcome, the Yogi welcomes the external world
but does not follow it.
From the depths of his heart he allows all to come and go.
He needs not to protect himself because he trusts his inner vision
Yoga has become a very wealthy business, and like any other business it follows the rules of the market. The media bombard us with very desirable and stereotyped images (easy to market) of how a spiritual person looks like, talks, walks and behaves. The more we feel compelled to follow this Yogi prescription the more we enter into battle with our inner realities. We stop validating our idiosyncrasies and forget that life thrives on diversity. Forget about all you have seen and heard about how a Yogi should be and start observing how “this Yogi here” is. How do you feel about your Yoga practice? How does it make you feel? How do you feel it contributes to your life in general? How is “this Yogi here” unique, inimitable?
The Tao of Yoga – Poem 13
Poem 13
Commentary
Praise and criticism cause the same misfortune.
Popularity and ostracism are important to the unauthentic.
Praise debases you.
It turns you into an easy bargain;
cheap when you have it,
cheap when you long for it.
No desire for praise, no effect of criticism.
Ostracism is feared by those who strive for fame.
No egocentrism, no ostracism. No ostracism, no popularity.
Do your practice without expectations of advancement.
Love your weaknesses as much as your strengths
and you will be home everywhere.
We have grown up with the unshakable imposition that we must
progress and improve ourselves. But this comes from the mistaken
belief that there is something faulty within us that needs fixing.
We can start challenging this belief by asking ourselves what
is actually faulty and in need of fixing in a baby and also by
remembering that this baby still exists within us. The fear of
actually finding out something wrong within is what fuels the
unrelenting machinery of praise and criticism. Imbued in this, we
forget that progress is simply something natural that any living
organism is doing until their death.
If you look attentively and curiously at the weaknesses of your
practice today, where does the strength to continue come from?
What is the wisdom that your weakness offers to you?
The Tao of Yoga – Poem 51
Poem 51
All come from the same source
and return to it.
All is a fractal of Oneness;
same integrity,
different situation.
So Oneness is us and runs through us
and this is called integrity.
As we are Oneness it demands no worship.
It is just natural that all value it.
Being us
it nurtures us without obligation.
It maintains us without claiming a return.
It guides us without controlling.
You being it
do posses the same integrity.
Commentary
The moment we see we are fractals from the same source our
doubts about our appropriateness disappear. We work with what
we can offer knowing that it is enough and as virtuous as the
source we come from. We cannot make ourselves better but we
can discover our real nature buried under tons of conditioning.
What do you, mountains, trees and animals have in common?
Can you bring that forward in today’s practice
The Tao of Yoga – Poem 59
Poem 59
To guide your practice in balance and harmony root yourself firmly in the yin principle.
Stop defending limiting ideas that restrain what could be and you will accumulate integrity and energy. Therefore the Yogi has gained infinite capacity.
Overcoming all difficulty he knows all things are possible.
Since he knows no limits he sees far and he is now ready to serve.
Commentary
Our pre-conceived ideas about people and events only let us see this little. Believing our theories we perpetuate the same conditions. The Yogi has cured himself from his own ideas and therefore there is nothing he cannot accomplish.
Can you challenge your own ideas about what you can/ cannot, will/will not achieve in your practice and simply do and see?
The Tao of Yoga – Poem 60
Poem 60
If you keep pointing out what is wrong
you will ruin your practice.
What you call wrong in others
has its origins in your own mind.
Centre yourself in your practice
and the wrong won’t find a place in you to cling to.
The energy of thinking gives the wrong its power.
Put that energy back to the Way,
do not oppose the wrong
and its power over you will disappear.
Commentary
If you keep pointing out what is wrong
you will ruin your practice.
What you call wrong in others
has its origins in your own mind.
Centre yourself in your practice
and the wrong won’t find a place in you to cling to.
The energy of thinking gives the wrong its power.
Put that energy back to the Way,
do not oppose the wrong
and its power over you will disappear.
The Tao of Yoga – Poem 77
Poem 77
It is the dance of Nature to ebb and flow.
Nature’s way is to maintain the balance of yin and yang.
If any of the two is shown excessively
the other will be supported so that balance can be regained.
Nature takes from what is in excess
to give to what has become deficient
in a continual dance of increase and decrease.
Man’s ways are different
it amasses abundance to the point
it causes the flow to stop generating stagnation.
Those who are strong want to be stronger
so they lack the flexibility required to bow down
and tie up their own shoes.
Only the Yogi gives back to the flow.
What comes around goes around
transformed.
The Yogi gives without expecting return
and when he does not have
he keeps on giving.
Commentary
We seldom understand the self-regulating capacity of nature. When our lifestyle causes us too much strain, the flue will force us to replenish anew by conserving energy. If we are present to a highly charged situation we only need to turn down our energy to bring balance back.
Can you see your practice framed within this ebbing and flowing rhythm of life? Can you practise the way you feel rather than forcing yourself to feel otherwise?
