A Gesture of Fearlessness

It is said that when the Buddha came out of his meditative state, having "awoken", he made a simple gesture with his right hand - raising it to shoulder height, palm facing outwards.

This is Abhaya mudra, the mudra of fearlessness.

What is it to be fearless? It's not about risk taking, or living on the edge, or extreme sports. It's not to be confused with foolishness - the fearlessness here is the ultimate one: the release from the fear of suffering eternally through the wheel of samsara.

This liberation from fear is at the roots of the yoga tradition. In a state of samsara the mind/soul is endlessly wandering around and around the wheel of birth, suffering, death and rebirth into the same suffering. The eightfold path of the Buddha, and later that other eightfold path proposed by Patanjali are like roadmaps to lead us out of suffering, to liberate our souls from the fears that weigh us down. Fear of pain, fear of loss, fear of not being enough, doing enough, achieving enough. Fear is the force that constricts the heart - it is the opposite of love, and surrender.

Often the yoga journey takes us to the edge of our fear. Whether it is our fear of falling over in a balance posture, our fear of hurting ourselves or being hurt, our fear of being 'inadequate' in an asana posture or meditation, or the wide-open heart that fears being wounded, the practice is constantly bringing us in touch with our fears. This is a good thing, because without fear, how can we truly surrender to fearlessness?

As I write this I am embarking on another step in my yoga journey - my level 2 teacher training. It's a huge step, and yet one that feels completely the right way to deepen my knowledge of yoga asana, pranayama, and pratyahara (posture, breathing and withdrawal of the senses), as well as yoga therapy, ayurveda and restorative yoga. One thing is for sure: it will take a lot of fearlessness to get through it! And the only way out, is through.

Over the next 6 weeks I hope to blog about it more, and share some of the great knowledge that my new teachers are sharing with us. But for today, I leave you with this: for just a moment in your day, go with fearlessness into the world. This is not to say that you should suppress your fears - on the contrary. Acknowledge your fears. Explore them. Seek to understand them, so that for an instant, you may let them go. In the space that they liberate then, may you find a moment of peace.

~Namaste~

Om Tara Mantra

I love mantras. Being a generally musical being, they move me deeply. When I get a mantra in my head, listen to a chant, or join in one, I feel it resonating to every fiber of my being.

I'm not religious (not to be confused with "I am an athiest" - because I'm not!), and when I first encountered mantras I felt extremely uncomfortable, almost afraid of them. They seemed "cult-y" and foreign to me, and I disliked that they named deities I was unfamiliar with or didn't believe in. A while later down the yoga path, now I love the joining of voices that mantras and kirtan give us. It is such a blessing to sit in a room full of people and all sing along - no more culty to me than a campfire or a kindergarten round of "row row row your boat"!

One mantra in particular I love: the Om Tara mantra. It is a mantra dedicated to the female incarnation of the Bodhisattva (one who follows the path of compassion), Tara. Tara's name means "star" or "she who ferries across", and she symbolizes Compassion in Action. Her mantra goes like this:

Om Tara Tuttare Ture Svaha

Meaning
Essentially the Om Tara mantra represents a progression towards spiritual liberation through compassionate action. Om Tara invokes the essence of compassion in our being. Tuttare represents liberation from delusions that cause suffering. Ture symbolizes liberation from the perception of duality; i.e. to truly be compassionate one must link the suffering of others with one's own suffering, and therefore devote yourself to ending all suffering, not just your own personal suffering. Finally, Svaha is a closing syllable that asks for the meaning of the mantra to take hold in your own mind. [For a more detailed explanation, check out this site.]

Do you like mantras, or dislike them? Does the idea of chanting together with others make you joyful or uncomfortable? What are your favourite mantras?

On Generosity, and how (not to) help in Haiti

A friend of mine posted this link on FB the other day and I wanted to comment on it. It is an article about how good intentions can fall short of the mark in humanitarian situations, why sending food and clothes isn't as helpful as it's intended to be, and why you shouldn't just show up in Port-au-Prince to help.

I think as yogis and yoginis, we are particularly likely to want to reach out in tragic situations, to be proactive, to DO something that we feel can alleviate the suffering we see. The article points out, however, that donating old clothing, food or medicines is not really an effective way to help people on the ground.

As someone who has worked in a humanitarian emergency - on a much smaller scale! here in East Timor in 2006 - this article rings true to me. In emergency situations, the most critical priorities become meeting basic needs: shelter, water, food, and sanitation. With no home to go back to, no place to wash or change, people don't need much clothing. They certainly don't need items like cup-of-soup, or tinned goods - if your house collapsed, how many of you would have a can opener in your back pocket? What people need are what we call basic food and non-food items: buckets, tarpaulins, blankets, bed-nets, clean water, soap, food supplements (usually bags of nutrient enriched flour) and basic cooking items. In addition, they need technical teams to clear rubble, erect temporary shelters, dig and pump out latrines, bring running water, administer medicines and coordinate basic services.

In any case, as the article points out, despite the honest, pure and good intentions of most material donations, the best way to really help in Haiti is to contribute financially to an established NGO. It may not feel as personal - but after all, this is not about us.

Which brings me to muse on generosity. The article highlights a trend in in-kind donations - the giving away of unwanted items of clothing, many of which may be inappropriate for the context (I mean, thong panties and stilettos? seriously?), and even of expired food and medicines (for crying out loud!!). No matter how good our intentions may be, giving away that which we do not need falls short of the mark of true generosity. Even more confusing, doing it in order to alleviate our OWN sense of helplessness and suffering crosses that murky line of attachment to the results of our actions.

The mere fact that we HAVE (and we all do!) closets of clothes that we no longer need, piles of shoes that we no longer wear and tins of expired food lining the shelves of store-rooms is a symptom of the deeper dis-ease of our society. Our over-consumption and materialism is the very antithesis of true generosity, our worship of riches and fear of poverty is the hallmark of our attachment to transient things.

In his inspiring book "Buddha is as Buddha Does", Lama Surya Das notes that generosity is the first paramita, or teaching of the Buddha, and in a sense, is the key to all others. True generosity, he says, "means breaking through the self-oriented attitude that we're making a sacrifice or that we're martyring ourselves", and rising above self-centeredness to live a compassionate life. "True generosity", he says, "is giving everything you have to every moment, and is the way of nonattachment."

Generosity is not as simple as just "giving" or "giving away". Lama Surya Das comments: "True generosity does not involve mindlessly handing over everything to anyone who asks." 'Generous' things done lazily, mindlessly or fearfully can end up doing harm, even though the person was trying to be helpful. "The parent who gives his spoiled child every toy the child wants may be showing more laziness than generosity," he gives as an example, "and ends up spoiling the child."

Obviously none of us are Buddhas yet (do you think Buddha would have a blog?). The struggle with non-attachment to the results of our actions is a daily one, two steps forward, one step back. But by being mindful about our urges to consume as well as to give, and by making sure our generosity is well-placed and is effective, we can make a good start down the path of untangling this complex web. So, if you want to give, give well. If your yoga studio is collecting donations for Haiti, encourage them to look deeper into how to help most effectively. Generosity means taking responsibility for our actions, and making them with mindfulness and wisdom.

On a lighter note, if Buddha did have a blog, what do you think it would be called? ;)