I’ve never had so many hugs as I enjoyed during the past two weeks. My -very large- family gathered to support dad’s last days and then more folks arrived to honor his passing. Through it all, we hugged!
Sometimes two of us caught each other’s eye and clasped our arms around each other and held on as if clasping life itself.
Other times, someone would notice a family member “on the edge” and a spontaneous group hug would evolve. My family practices “sandwich hugs” which are group hugs that squeeze the person from all sides. The physical holding of the person mimics our holding them in our hearts.
If yoga is UNION, surely then hugs are a form of yoga. It is a discipline we need to practice. We need to move beyond the sterile: hands barely touching the other person and head tilting for a light peck on the cheek.
Just as every pose encompasses effort and surrender, hugs require both giving and receiving.
As we gather the other person in our arms, we acknowledge our contribution to their well being. We build confidence in our own power to heal. We surrender to their strength and love. Acknowledging that we are not alone in this world, we hold each other in a fundamental, primal human connection.
We give our Self to them. At the same time, we practice surrendering and receiving the gift of another Self, which is really the same Self!
Here’s a lovely video which is probably not the most inspirational video you’ll ever see, but one you’ll enjoy. Watching huggers seems to get the endorphins flowing! Thanks to a FB friend for sharing, New Age Enlightenment for creating HUG FOR THE WORLD, and for the soundtrack by Enigma.
Grieving with friends and family of someone who has passed blesses us with stories we may not have ever known otherwise.
While in Houston, E.’s father shared an inspiring account of a homeless man living beneath a highway overpass near their home. Over time, they recognized and began to speak with him. Eventually, whenever father or daughter saw him there, they began leaving plates of food and some clothing. Because of their generosity, I was moved to make a donation to a homeless shelter in Houston. It’s true that generosity inspires generosity!
Patanjali tells us that compassion is one of the tools we can use to calm the mind: Yoga sutra 1.33: maitri karuna mudita upeksanam sukha duhkha punya apunya visayanam bhavanatas citta prasadanam
The projection of friendliness, compassion, gladness, and equanimity towards objects – [be they] joyful, sorrowful, meritorious, or demeritorious-[bring about] the pacification of consciousness. (trans. Feuerstein)
Though I’m focusing on compassiontoday, the practices of friendliness, gladness, or equanimity would bestow similar benefits that I’d like to discuss in future posts.
This aphorism, or sutra, reminds me of Simon and Garfinkle’s ode to loneliness, “I am a Rock.” The following video is from the unofficial Paul Simon Page, located on 2dannyc89′s Channel.
This is the path I get stuck on …stuck in grief, alienation, and self-absorption….when I don’t practice the outward-looking virtues.
The ideals expressed in yoga sutra # 1.33 have been used to transform human relationships and better society since ancient times. Barbara Stoler Miller in Yoga, Discipline of Freedom, says they echo early Buddhist monks practices even as they are relevant and useful to us in the 21st century because:
These practices work to demolish the boundaries between oneself and others, and to break through the barriers that lock people into egoism….bring about a transmutation of personal emotions into immeasurable virtues.
We are reminded in B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on the Sutras of Patanjali to not limit our social work with these four virtues, but to include practice of the five virtues named in the yamas mentioned in sutra 2.30: nonharming, honesty, non-stealing,moderation, non-grasping.
We call these social virtues because they benefit not only ourselves, they also bring society into a state of health. Can we live in a health-ful rather than a dys-functional society? If we take these aphorisms to heart and into our lives, it certainly seems possible!
A friend on FaceBook posted a thought-provoking video that cuts to the heart of this sutra. I hope it will benefit you today just as the story E.’s father shared, inspired me.
MEDITATION: Georg Feuerstein, in The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, says that there is a meditation wherein the four virtues: friendliness, compassion, gladness, and equanimity are radiated from the practitioner into the universe. This sounds very similar to metta or lovingkindness meditation that I have mentioned before. Beginning with oneself, and eventually including all sentient beings, the meditator offers the following phrases (or others that resonate more deeply):
