Back to Yoga - Week 2 - Satya - Truthfulness

 

 

Back to Yoga - Week 2 - Satya - Truthfulness

 

 

Patanjali says in sutra II.36 - satyapratisthayam kriyaphalasrayatvam

When the Sadhaka is firmly established in the practice of truth, his words become so potent that whatever he says comes to realization.

 

Deborah Adele writes in her book, The Yamas and Niyamas, Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice, that truth has the power to right wrongs and end sorrows.  It is fierce in its demands and magnanimous in its offerings.

 

This next sentence really spoke to me, "It invites us to places we rarely frequent and where we seldom know what the outcome will be. If we don't approach truth 'with our knees knocking', we haven't really understood the profoundness of this guideline."

 

It is true. When I first started studying the Yamas and Niyamas I read through them and thinking that I am a pretty honest, non-violence, non- greedy, clean, etc. person you kind of skim over them.  It is when I really started to delve in, become more aware, be reflective that I realized how much more to these seemingly simple sutras there is.

 

"Truth demands integrity to life and to our own self that is more then not telling a simple lie."

 

Some concepts Deborah brings forth are:

Being real rather then nice, self-expression over self-indulgence, the need to belong vs. the need to grow, Doing it right the first time, truth is fluid, truth has weight and the power of truth.

 

I will touch on just a few of these ideas and I highly recommend you read this book.

 

Being Real Rather Than Nice:

Deborah tells a story of how her teacher said to watch out for nice people, and that thinking of herself a nice person was a bit confused and put off at first.  I think initially I would feel the same way. We have been taught to be "nice". 

There is distortion Deborah writes between being nice and real. Nice is an illusion, it is an imposed image of what one thinks they should be.  Being Real comes from the center of our unique essence and speaks to the moment from that centre.

 

Self- Expression vs. Self-Indulgence:

Constantly living in a way that distorts who we really are takes a lot of energy and causes us to lose that lust for life. This may cause us to look towards other things to fulfill us.

Deborah writes how this misdirection of energy ends with a feeling of settling for less and we may hid in over eating , over working, etc. rather than doing what we really want to do.

 

"Living the life that cries to be lived from the depth of our being frees up our energy and vitality.  we benefit and everyone around us benefits."



 

I'll just write on one more of her topics.

 

The Need to Belong vs. The Need to Grow:

I think this topic is probably something most of us have felt at least once in our lives. 

The guilt of wanting to belong to a group but also needing to expand and grow. So the truth of our freedom carries the price of guilt.

Deborah writes too how we really belong to many groups; our country, our culture, gender, class, age group, race, religion, family, community, workplace, etc.  All of these groups have rules and belief systems that must be followed to be part of that group. A conflict arises when these rules are not the same anymore as our inner longing.  So we must sacrifice a part of ourselves to maintain our belonging, or we must risk the approval and support of the group by growing. This speaks to being truthful.

 

"Truth rarely seems to ask the easier choice of us."

 

One of Deborah's suggestions is to take time journaling and reflecting on the difference between being "nice" and being "real".  Notice situations where you were nice.  What did this experience invoke in you: What were the results? Notice situations where you were real. What did this experience invoke in you? What were the results? From whom or what do you seek approval? 


Deborah gave a few other great suggestions to do and think about. Maybe I will blog about them one day too!