The Yogic Path is a path of evolution that is grounded in day to day living. One of the first steps to evolve is to be accountable. Small actions reflect one's accountability. If one commits to being somewhere or doing something and cannot keep up their word, then one needs to own up.
This does not mean that we become rigid with time lines and expect people to become machines. Life happens and things may not always go the way we anticipate. However, with some, it becomes a recurring pattern of indiscipline. If one is not accountable then one will start making excuses for this indiscipline rather than own up. By owning up or being accountable one starts to take responsibility for one's actions.
There is no blame game but a willingness to shift things for the better. This means one learns to keep open spaces in one's life and do less, rather than over commit and under deliver. This also needs the person to be more focused rather than getting too distracted.
Less is more
In a world where our senses are constantly bombarded, we may not be able to see why less is more. We are told that the bigger the car we have or the bigger the books we read or degrees we have, the more successful or more knowledgeable we are.
Even artists want to produce maximum art work and burn themselves out. We want to have more and consume more rather than savouring what we have.
We cannot see that wisdom is different from knowledge and true success is not being tied down by material trappings. When we see that, we stop hankering for more information and concepts to fill our minds with or things to fill our lives with.
Does your word count?
There are simple things and ways in which you show you are accountable. If you repeatedly don't keep showing up and then not even inform the person, your word will hold no weight anymore. This is like the story of the boy who cried wolf so many times to fool everyone that when he was actually speaking the truth when a wolf came, no one believed him.
So when one is on the yoga path it is important not to go back on your word all the time and neither be drawn into hype and inflated promises. I see so many do that because they come from a world where that is what they learn. They believe name dropping, hyped figures and showing off has given them that success. However since they have never tasted the true success of being grounded in themselves, they will never know the difference.
This true success is priceless. It is this priceless success that yoga and true spirituality bestows on us. To be able to wait for life to unfold yet also not get sucked into one's own or another's indiscipline. This is a fine balance.
Experience of one of the yoga participants
In the Yoga Teachers/ Enlightened Leadership programme, one of the ladies shared how as a child her father used to promise to take her out and not keep his promise on many occasions. This led to a cycle of raised expectations and subsequent disappointments. She still sees how sensitive she is when someone fails to keep their promise and it can affect her deeply.
We don't have to allow such incidents to traumatise us forever. The yoga practices help release these deep rooted traumas. However because we want to have our time valued and not be taken for granted we can draw conscious boundaries around those who habitually over promise and under deliver. This also applies to us and we can change that pattern in us if we habitually do that. This means we take responsibility for the situation.
Taking responsibility is very different from a blame game. When two people take responsibility in a situation it is easy to find a space to settle things. However finding even one person in the equation who is willing to take responsibility is rare nowadays. And hence fall outs are inevitable or one ends up with a lot of suppressed emotions.
The importance of taking responsibility and being accountable
When one can be held accountable then it means one has the courage to accept one is not perfect. It takes courage to say I am sorry and I will make amends. This also creates the space for the person to say “No” to unreasonable demands.
Benefits of being accountable
When one is accountable it frees up a lot of space to deal with issues rather than get into personal dramas. The body also relaxes into a space where more light and consciousness can be allowed.
The Jyothi Kriyas
Jyothi means light and the Jyothi kriyas are a series of practices to create more light consciousness in the body. The body is a vehicle of the universal consciousness. It starts resonating with better and subtler vibrations as we purify it from old unresolved issues. The old emotions and thought patterns are cleared to allow for more light and more lightness.
The technique
This kriya can be done from many positions and we will be doing it from the standing position.
Stand in the samasthithi or the posture of equipoise.
Think of your arms like wings and make a soft movement opening your wings breathing in. Focus on the lower lobes of the lungs in the lower chest region. Breathe out and release the hand to the sides. Do 9 times.
Now do the same movement with the arms at the mid chest level. Open softly as you breathe in and relax back to the sides as you breathe out. Focus on breathing into the mid chest region. Do 9 times
Do the same movement shrugging your shoulders and raising your arms and breathing into the upper lobes of the lungs in the upper chest region. Breathe out and bring the hands down to the sides. Do 9 times.
Do some gentle breathing standing in the samasthithi opening all the three segments of the lungs. Focus on breathing into your full chest. Relax.
Yogacharini Maitreyi is a practical mystic who teaches yoga and creates conscious community around the world. E-mail: maitreyi9@hotmail.com; www.arkaya.net
