This month my teacher asked that we think about the yamas and niyamas to support our formation of classes. I found myself especially drawn to aparigraha, which in Sanskrit is non-hoarding or non-coveting. Apraigraha can be taken very literally as piles of things taking up your home or car, but it can also be more subtle. Like spiritual materialism, where you are attached to knowing everything about spirituality, or feeling that you have more worth if you have more “ins” in a spiritual community. Or, it can be intellectual hoarding.
When I was pregnant, I read about 42 books. Thinking that the more I read the more prepared I would be. I did learn some interesting things, but I also missed some key experiences because I was waiting for the ones that appeared in the books to happen. And, on holding my baby for the first time, I realized that nothing could prepare you for the blissful experience of being in the moment and seeing life unfold as it happens.
What are you hoarding? Do you keep that pain in your hips as part of who you are? Are you holding on to outmoded ideas of who you thought you would be? Do you keep yourself from handstands because your butt is too big? Is your house physically or metaphorically filled with boxes of boxtops and bottle caps?
What can you clean out and let go that doesn’t serve you anymore?
prana project 