Yogic Practice: Navigate Better With Hard Times

Written by Andréa Drottholm

Kali Yuga it's a challenging time for so many of us. Also called the Iron age, the darkest of our ages.

We are challenged in a cycle where materialism plays out as the most significant value, ignorance, selfishness and separation.

We lead our lives enslaved to follow the system of achieving, creating wealth and status to be recognised for something outside of ourselves.

Adopt A Yogic Mindset

How can we come back to the essence, the source?

As the Kali Yuga plays out in yet again disturbing manners, creating havoc across the globe and entrenching fear into humans. The world has turned upside down.

The not knowing is so nerve wrecking.

And it's that same unknowing that we are asked to surrender to.

I think they mean it's how we approach the problem, so we attach ourselves to it thinking we can figure it out if we think hard enough, and fear driven actions and mindset kicks in.

Mind has taken control!!

It's all freighting, and we all hold certain responsibilities.

It's testing times to trust and know that everything will be fine in the end, when the world is looking like it might be about to tilt over to the other side.

We simply don't know what will happen.

We have to trust that if we live selflessly we can serve each other as a community.

As that is magic when you know that you are not alone.

You are too loved, you will always be cared for if need be, and more importantly you allow for it.

I am sure things fall into their place eventually.

In the mean time we go a bit nuts. As the mind loves to play games.

Stress possibly kicks in, as we are confronted with a situation that we are unfamiliar with, its flight or fight mode. Something deeper on an instinct level is preparing us for ‘survival’.

We seek solutions, but solutions are none as we are faced with something that we have never experienced before. Thoughts start to run through the head like a hamster in the hamster wheel, round and round and round.

It's easy to be caught up in the mind games and we become one with the thought, we believe we are our thought.

Then what we choose to believe, what we actually know or what we have read about are all distinct knowledge.

The experience and self-knowledge, eventually starts to reflect back on our identity.

If we choose to polish that reflection and look at what is really beneath the layers of our mind’s conditioning.

And that is Yoga.

The endless discovery of our true essence, in its natural form.

Using the many sacred tools to trust we have acquired through a disciplined practice.

A commitment to not just my well-being but to those around us.

That is service.

To be and give the best of yourself.

And maintaining self-care even when we see something we don't like about ourselves.

To understand that we are only humans having a human experience in a bodily form.

Love and service, it's not "I" anymore but "Us"

Yoga Can Shift Your Mindset

Through practice we can reach a level of understanding and willingness to study oneself and those around us. With great awareness and curiosity.

We can always learn more, understand and share. Learn to not judge oneself as well as others. Everyone is unique in so many ways. That how we shape an identity, the ego.

When we cling to identity that is when we suffer as it's a false illusion an emptiness unfulfilled.

Surrender to the process by living in the present moment and watch how events unfold around us, as predicting it is most likely a waste of time.

We are in the middle of a whirlwind of Maya, an illusion that plays out. What can we learn from it?

Simply to stay calm, present, not being swept away with the storm outside but to let yourself stay grounded, embracing what is true for you not for others.

Hold those close to you, reach out to ensure that their well-being is attended to, as their well-being becomes yours. We are all in this together, there is no separation, them and us, that is just yet another illusion creating anxiety and fear, as a baby separated from its mother, it is not complete.

We are not complete unless we step into being part of the whole. Not judging not grasping for an outcome that is in our selfish wish, but to be the best version of you even when its damn hard. That is what we practice. That is spirituality as far as I am concerned. Burning incense, singing mantras in foreign tongues, eating vegan and stretching the body is all good, but does it keep you in your centre? If not then what does?

That is the mystery we are unravelling to find the right practice that holds us firm in the biggest turmoil.

That is not to say that we can’t be emotional, emotions are there regardless, but the is to move from our hearts rather than our minds.

Watching, feeling, tuning in and allowing for whatever is passing through to pass.

Keep faith, keep positive see the beauty around us and know that whatever is playing out is playing out because it has to.

What will come, will come even if we think it should be different.

That is to say we have no control over the future, though we do have control over our thoughts but that does take practice and dedication.

Observe your role, how you play the game and how you contribute to others in this world.