One of the most profound gifts we received from our consistent yoga practice is a shift in perspective. We learn to experience life in the present moment without clinging to the past or the need to attach ourselves to an outcome. Attachment and aversion are two sides of the same coin and vital yogic principles that can teach us to release what is no longer serving us in order to be our best selves.
Our bodies are storehouses for life experiences––the good, the bad, and the ugly. We often shape our inner narrative and make choices for our future based upon our emotional wounds. Sometimes it is more comfortable to hold onto the painful stories, like a tough childhood, a horrific break-up, getting fired from your dream job, or losing a friend. The same concept applies to our triumphs and joys. We hold a lifetime within our tissues and sometimes, these things become what in the Yoga Sutras Patanjali called Kleshas or the fundamental obstacles to yoga and Samadhi.
Patanjali called these traumatic responses that get encoded in the brain as the root of suffering or Avidya. Avidya is the inability to seeing things as they truly are or mistaken perception. It is seeing things through our lens of experience and wounds. If we can learn to shed the layers obscuring our personal lens through yoga, we can find contentment.
With our individual lenses, we can often start to believe that unless X or Y result occurs––I get that job or marry that person––we cannot be happy. Attachment to outcome is often one of the greatest causes of human suffering. But what does detachment mean?
Detachment or letting go doesn’t mean you don’t care. It means letting go of the belief that life should proceed in a certain way because it’s what you want or think should happen. Detachment is surrendering to the outcome. If something is an obstacle to becoming present, let it go.
To attain a state of yoga where you are choosing where your thoughts go, Yoga Sutras 1.12-16 further describe how it takes practice to learn to be present. You increase presence through:
(1) abhyasa—effort or practice and
(2) vairagya—relinquishment/detachment--- the willingness to let a phenomenon arise without reacting to it.
Letting go and living in a state of yoga is an accumulation of every effort we make throughout the day. Choosing to let go is a way to establish new patterns and when we do something differently, we become different.
Working on our inner selves on the yoga mat is an excellent foundation for creating a life where we can stop clinging to the past and release attachment to the future. Nothing is permanent and can be as beautiful and liberating as holding on or creating something new. Try these classes focused on letting go today.
Jackie Casal Mahrou - Inner Strength Flow 1: Feel It All
Jill Pedroza - Flow & Flight
Kylie Larson - Flow & Let Go