Practicing Yoga in Uncertain Times

by Jonathan Ivry

One of the hardest challenges of this pandemic is living with so much uncertainty. From the start, we have been bombarded with information, some of it conflicting, as the situation unfolded and evolved. As a society, we rallied together, and, following best practices like social distancing and “safer at home,” we did our best to slow down the spread of the virus. And it seems to have worked. We flattened the curve here in Madison and the toll has been much less than in other communities around the country and world.

But right now, as the economy starts to reopen, we are filled with a whole series of new questions, of new uncertainties. What will happen when businesses reopen and people begin to move around more freely? Will schools and universities meet face-to-face in the fall? Is it safe to travel and visit loved ones?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the “what-ifs” we are facing, both collectively and individually. Living with so much uncertainty can take a huge toll on our mental well-being, especially when our health and livelihoods are involved.

How can yoga help us cope with this ongoing, challenging situation? Certainly, if you have a regular practice, you know that moving mindfully with breath helps release the physical tension and mental anxiety many of us are dealing with. But it’s useful to remember that the concept of yoga in the Hindu tradition goes far beyond simple physical asanas or poses.

The Bhagavad Gita, or “Song of God,” is an ancient Hindu text dating from somewhere between the second century BCE and the second century CE. The Gita takes the form of a dialogue between Arjuna, a prince who is facing a terrible crisis – whether to fight a war with his cousins – and Krishna, who is the incarnation of God. Krishna shares with Arjuna fundamental concepts that are central to Hindu philosophy and religion, including extended discussions on dharma, karma, and yoga.

In the Gita, a yoga practice can be anything you undertake with a calm, focused discipline and – this is key – without paying attention to the outcome. Krishna talks about “clinging” – how people cling to a certain desired outcome or result in connection to their action. But clinging to an outcome is a sure way to be disappointed. When a desired outcome doesn’t materialize we can feel a whole range of emotions – disappointment, anger, resentment, grief – and these emotions can quickly overwhelm us. Even before the outcome has materialized, if we are focused solely on the outcome then our mind is elsewhere, not focused on the actions we are performing in the here and now but instead focused on the yearning for something else.

A regular, mindful yoga practice gently returns the mind to a focus on the present moment, and away from a focus on the outcome. As Krishna says in the Second Discourse:

Abiding in yoga,
engage in actions!
Let go of clinging,
and let fulfillment
and frustration
be the same;
for it is said
yoga is equanimity.

This is not as easy as it sounds. Who is able to accept fulfillment and frustration equally? People have many goals in their lives, both personal and professional, as well as larger hopes for their communities, the country, the world. We want things in our lives to be a certain way and we are not going to be satisfied if they don’t turn out the way we want.

Krishna, I believe, is not telling us to give up and be fatalistic about our world. His message to Arjuna very much emphasizes that a person must engage in proper actions. At the same time, the Gita says to take up those actions without a grim, determined insistence on how it will all turn out. Do your actions, but ease up on the tight grip, the attachment for a particular outcome.

Another way of thinking about this concept is in terms of reactivity. As humans, we have evolved to react to threats – think of the fight-or-flight instinct. This is a useful, important, and necessary skill. Yet, many people go through their entire lives simply reacting to the threat of the moment, whether real or imagined. When we live in a state of constant reactivity, our body is tensed up, our breathing is quickened, our entire physical being is stressed-out, on high alert.

A yoga practice helps us slow down our reactivity, what the Gita calls “restraining the senses,” so that we can escape the disruptive cycle of reactivity and instead act from a place of calm intention. Krishna uses a metaphor of the ocean to describe the person who doesn’t let their reactions disrupt their equilibrium:

As the ocean becomes full,
yet is steady and unmoved as the waters enter it,
so the one whom all desire enter
in this way gains peace;
yet this is not so for
the one who desires desire.

Desiring desire may sound like a paradox, but when we desire a certain outcome or when we are stuck in a reactive mode, we are not flowing with the world as it is, but are focusing our attention on wanting the world to be otherwise. We want not just the outcome, but we end up wanting the feeling of wanting, rather than being connected to the moment as it is.

So what sort of practice helps you to let go of clinging to outcomes and instead remain focused on the present? The Gita talks about different kinds of yoga, including the yoga of karma (action), the yoga of samnyasa (renunciation) and the yoga of bhakti (devotion). The yoga asanas we practice in the studio are a series of physical poses that ideally help train us for the yoga that takes place outside the studio, out in the real world. How you put your yoga into practice is something every person has to discover, and it is very much a practice, not an outcome that you reach or achieve at some point after many years.

Today, when so much is uncertain, when the outcome – how this all turns out – remains unknown, it is more important than ever to cultivate practices that gently release us from our reactivity and our attachments to any particular outcome. Practicing release from clinging to an outcome is your yoga practice, whether it manifests through physical asana, through mindful meditation, or through other activities that can help bring you back to the present moment.

Every person has to discover what yoga practice works best for them. For some, it may be through meditation, or listening to or playing music, or cooking good food, or going for walks, or finding ways to volunteer or serve others, or really whatever mindful practice can bring you to a place of quiet equanimity. I, like all the IFY family of teachers, am eager to see you again in the studio, but until then, I hope you are practicing whatever yoga you need to right now to bring peace and ease and equanimity into your life. Namaste.

Source: The Bhagavad Gita. Translated by Laurie L Patton. Penguin Classics, 2008.