War and Peace
War and Peace
Ahimsa – non-violence, the first restraint (yama) described in the 8-limbed path of yoga outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Attributed to M. Gandhi
Seek peace and pursue it. Psalms 34:15
What is the place for peace in times when humans violently brutalize one another, and the collective psyche becomes consumed by the recent atrocity?
What is the place for peace, you ask? Ah, let’s talk.
Peace has not moved. Peace has not shifted. Peace holds her presence. In her stillness and strength, peace beckons to you, the one looking for the vibration of oneness. Peace calls you forth.
Is it a delicate matter to write about peace in a week full of war? Absolutely, yet how can we not have this conversation?
Yoga stands on the foundation of non-violence, the first principle of the ten restraints and observances known as Yamas and Niyamas. Ahimsa, non-violence, guides our choices about how we approach an asana, how we navigate our mental terrain, how we treat one another and how we move upon the planet. Ahimsa is the basis for vegetarian/vegan diet yoga recommends.
Yes, the world is a long way from practicing ahmisa. Violence festers on this planet. The violations against life are so common, people consume violence daily: in what they eat, in the entertainment they consume, in the horrific news that magnetizes their attention.
Yet peace stands unmoved.
You who have cultivated the ability to witness, now is the time for your clarity. For you, there is the ability to observe – your Self, the world, the victim, the perpetrator, the enemy, the ally, the politician, the president, the incongruity, the inconsistency, the inconceivability. For you, there is never a polarity, always a trinity – an expression of the One. For you, there is knowledge that the vibration you desire for the world manifests from deep consciousness, and you are called forth as that conscious being. You alone have the power to direct your mind, vibration, energy, focus, and thus actions, to create more of what feels right, not wrong, in the world.
What to do about anything must come from your sense of how to be with everything. Use the energy stirring within you to look inward. Soften the violations your mind makes against you or another, and especially surrender your fight with reality. Place your attention on that which expands your vision. Nourish yourself with food grown and picked, not captured and killed. Surrender the outward flowing thoughts of how others have failed. Follow the peaceful vibration down and up to the center of your Self. Establish your inner connection with such fierceness that no one and nothing can dislodge you.
At your center, listen. Receive direction from there. If there is something, anything, everything or nothing for you to do, you will know. The action that rises from presence is the one guided by the Divine. This is the action to follow. Our entire experience of the world is dictated by our focus. You are strong and you are wise. The world needs your unwavering presence expressing existence, knowledge and bliss.
From here you will quietly realize that to bring light to a world that has become blind, your fresh, compassionate and loving gaze is entirely needed.
Author Theresa Shay is the Founding Director of TriYoga of Central Pennsylvania. She can be reached at theresa(at)PennsylvaniaYoga.com.