Living a yogic life
My latest article of living a yogic life can be found in the latest edition of WellBeing magazine.
I love writing about yoga philosophy and distilling ancient wisdom into something palatable and relatable for life in today’s day and age. Whenever I research and write a big piece like this, I always find that magically the concepts I’m dealing with seem to resonate with what is actually happening in my life at that moment and/or give me a chance to actively practice what I preach.
This time, the concept of Aparigraha, non-possessiveness really stuck with me. Aparigraha is about letting go of our attachments to physical objects and rethinking the way we are defined. As someone that dislikes throwing almost anything away, I started to reflect on the objects I have collected over the years. These weren’t necessarily expensive things. In some cases it was old tshirts that I’ve worn once, but was for some reason so reluctant to throw away. I began to think, when was the last time I’ve worn this? Why do I feel an attachment to this? What will my life be like without it? Of course for an old tshirt, the answers to these questions were quite silly, but it made me think about the attachment we have to even the most unsentimental and really, non-special items. I suppose in our consumer age, we’ve just become conditioned to feel this way, but the reality is, we don’t have to.
If we can start letting go of these physical objects and connecting with our selves and others on a deeper level, we can find such a greater happiness. These objects really just act as baggage, in a physical and emotional sense, that prevent us from reaching real wholeness. They act as the security blanket, that we don’t even need – and once we let go and start to appreciate the immaterial things in life, we can discover a whole new way of being.
So get started! Below is an except from the article on Aparigraha to help you let go and let live.
More than ever we are becoming defined by our possessions. Whether it’s the clothes we wear, the gadgets we own or even where we live, our ownership and attachment to our possessions and the never ending desire to accumulate more, has become an ingrained part our identity and a measure of happiness.
The forth Yama, Aparigraha asks we do something very radical for our material world – that is, let go of our attachments and recognise their impermanence. This doesn’t mean you have to start throwing away everything you own. Instead, before you start accumulating new objects, think about whether you really need the item in question and what purpose will it serve. This kind of thinking helps ensure your material possessions don’t come to define you.
By slowly learning to curb the cravings of the ego and the desire to accumulate more, we can start to refocus and become contentment and grateful for the immaterial things in our life. Letting go of greed and desire allows room for new energy and slowly lets us see we don’t need more objects to make us happy. We already have everything we need within us.
