Yoga Sutra 1.2: Pain is real, so why add suffering? (sometimes a glass of wine is just a glass of wine)

Yoga Sutra 1.2: Pain is real, so why add suffering? (sometimes a glass of wine is just a glass of wine)

Zuri sees Miss Ely at the Mall

Zuri’s Aunt Jasmine, the one who works at the bank downtown, takes Zuri to the mall a couple of times a year to buy some school clothes and have a nice dinner. It is one of Zuri’s favorite things. Her life feels so normal when she and Aunt Jasmine are walking through the stores, bags in hand, trying to decide what restaurant to go to.

Zuri and her Aunt Jasmine spent time in all of Zuri’s favorite stores. Her feet were getting tired. This afternoon she got a new pair of jeans and some really cute long sleeve shirts for fall. Zuri likes the sleeves really long so that she can pull them down over her hands when it get’s cold in school (and at home). She sneaks long looks at her aunt. She sees Aunt Jasmine’s bright smile, her beautiful skin, and her warmth. Zuri is so happy Jasmine doesn’t drink like her mom does. Zuri’s Aunt Jasmine explained to Zuri that their grandmother drank so much that she eventually became very sick and had to go live in a special place. Zuri wonders if it was rehab—like Jayla’s mom—but she is afraid to ask. She sort of doesn’t want to know.

They decide to go the Cheesecake Factory, which is super great. There is long line and they wait. It is a huge place and she starts people watching. Zuri sees Miss Ely from School, her science teacher. Miss Ely is laughing and smiling and talking to a man. It seems like she is on a date. Oh no—wine, a glass of wine. Zuri’s heart sinks. Miss Ely has a glass of wine. I see Zuri’s face drop, feel her heart drop. She looks away fast and lowers her eyes. She feels ashamed, somehow, for seeing Miss Ely drinking. Its weird but she feels like she did something wrong, like she is bad for seeing.

Their buzzer goes off. Their table is ready. Zuri can hardly breathe. Her mind is racing. She is terrified, “Oh Gosh!” They are walking right by Miss Ely.

“Zuri! Hi!” Miss Ely says as she stands up to greet Zuri.

Zuri feels shy, “Hi Miss Ely.” Long pause here…….

“Hi, I am Zuri’s Aunt Jasmine,” her aunt interjects.

“Zuri is one of my most favorite students. She is such a bright girl. She is going to do whatever she sets her mind to! It is so good to see you Zuri and so nice to meet you Jasmine.”

“You too.” Says Zuri’s Aunt Jasmine. “We won’t keep you. Enjoy your dinner.”

“Goodnight Zuri. See you in school.”

Zuri struggles to smile, head down. They are shown to their table deep into the dining room, far away from Miss Ely.

Zuri’s aunt asks her what is wrong. Zuri won’t say. She is so sad about Miss Ely and the wine. Her aunt presses, “Zuri, girl, what is it?”

Zuri explains how she feels. She says that she is so worried about her mom and that she hates alcohol. She said that she is so sad that Miss Ely is drinking too. Getting it, Zuri's aunt explains that for some people wine is okay. She says that it’s tricky, but that for some people it is perfectly okay to have a glass or two of wine. She explains that some people don’t get addicted and that they don’t struggle. She explained that alcoholism doesn’t run in some families like it does in theirs.

So, she explains, just because Zuri saw Miss Ely drinking wine, it does not mean, necessarily, that Miss Ely is an alcoholic.

At home and in bed, reading her Yoga Sutras (yes, she thinks- I WILL read this whole thing). She reads sutra 1.2 about the turning of the mind. She wonders if she was doing just what the sutra was saying at the mall when she saw Miss Ely.

She thought it through. She saw miss Ely and then her mind quickly judged what she saw. Right away, Zuri thought that what she saw was very bad. Then, her mind starting running on the ideas. Her thoughts went deeper into the implications of what she saw and how bad it was. Her mind kept turning and thinking until she got to feeling-- not just bad, but that she, she was bad.

It was like these sutras explained. And she noticed that as her aunt clarified that it was all okay, she could go back to just seeing Miss Ely and not judging and not being afraid, sad, or shamed. “Wow” Zuri thought. “There is a lot to learn here.” Sleepy, she sets down her Yoga Sturas and closes her eyes thinking good thoughts about Miss Ely.

The Process:

Sutra 1.2 Yogash chitta virtti nirodhah

Here are three of the interpretations:

1.     We become whole by stopping the turning of the mind (Roach & McNally, 2005)

2.     Yoga is the control of the thought-waves of the mind (Prabhavananda & Isherwood; 1953)

3.     Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of mind (Bryant, 2009) 

According to Roach and McNally (2005), these are the most important words in the entire Yoga Sutra. Similarly, Bryant (2009) suggests that Patanjali has nearly summarized the entire system of yoga in this sutra.

Roach and McNallly (2005) tell us that pain is real and truly does hurt us, but the turning of the mind can add to this pain.

Prabhavananda and Isherwood (1953) break it down into steps:

Step 1: Manas- receives impressions gathered by senses from the world outside of us.

Step 2: Buddhi- classifies impressions and reacts to them (e.g., This is good or bad, safe or unsafe, pleasant or unpleasant).

Step 3: Ahamkar- claims impressions (i.e., I see) and stores them as one’s own knowledge (i.e., I know).

For Zuri, this would be like this.

Step 1: I see Miss Ely drinking (the seeing).

Step 2: Drinking is bad. When my mom is drinking bad things happen. Miss Ely’s drinking is bad (the classifying).

Step 3: I know this. I am going to get stressed. Miss Ely might not show up for work. She might not be okay. I feel bad for seeing her. I am wrong for seeing her (i.e., knowing and identification).

It is the false identification (see step 3) that can add suffering to pain (Prabhavananda & Isherwood; 1953). In a similar way this process is described in the post on the Buddhist Psychological Model (see previous post).  http://theyogabag.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-buddhist-psychological-model.html

For Zuri, it could also be like this.

Step 1: I see Miss Ely drinking (the seeing).

Step 2: It may be good it may be bad. I don’t know. Some people are okay with wine. I don’t need to decide right now if this is okay or not (the classifying).

Step 3: I am just at the mall with my Aunt Jasmine. I am happy. I am getting ready to eat cheesecake. I am a little girl who saw her teacher and that is that (not-self, non-attachment).

It is not easy to stop the turnings of the mind. As Zuri, you, and I go through the Yoga Sutras we will learn lots of ways to stop the turnings of the mind. For us, Patanjali provides a path, an 8-limb path, toward self-regulation and peace of mind. Sutra 1.2 sets the stage for what is coming and there is a lot to learn.  

So sweet dreams and know that sometimes a glass of wine is just a glass of wine : )

Namaste,

Catherine

For an overview of the people in Zuri's life go here:
http://theyogabag.blogspot.com/p/zuris-people-overview-of-poeple-is.html

The Buddhist Psychological Model: Impermanence, Suffering, and Not Self

The Buddhist Psychological Model: Impermanence, Suffering, and Not Self

September 10, 2013

Zuri’s First Day of School

I saw Zuri as she walked into the beginning of eighth grade, the first day of school. She was tired. She had cried herself to sleep the night before. She had a lot on her mind as she walked toward the chaos of her school. Kids running past, people laughing, busses rolling in, someone bumped her shoulder, hard, and didn’t say sorry- he just kept moving. She has no school supplies, none at all.

She was thinking about her brother. Now it’s been four days since he’s been home. Eric is 16 and he should be in his junior year at the high school. He missed so many classes last year that he almost didn't  pass. She is worried about him getting to school. A lot of the kids that live near her drop out after 10^th grade. Eric is smart, but he’s into some hard stuff, she knows. He steals, he drinks, and he seems like he’s doing harder drugs. Ugh, she hates to think about it.

I see her later, walking out of school a big smile on her face. She has a friend on each side and they make a deal to do their homework together. She has a backpack and it is full of supplies. Turns out one of the teachers works hard all summer getting donations for kids like Zuri.  Mrs. Klein saw Zuri as she came in the front door and pulled her aside. She asked her where her school supplies were. Zuri just looked at her. Mrs. Klein discretely took Zuri to a room where she could choose the color of the backpack, the notebooks and pens, and pencils. Zuri thanked God for Mrs. Klein. Ready for school, she spent the rest of the day learning, laughing, and talking to her friends.

Mrs. Klein saw Zuri leaving school. They made eye contact and smiled. Mrs. Klein’s heart radiated that feeling, that feeling you get when things are okay.

The Process

The city schools are hard places to work. I have worked in the city, my husband works there now. The needs are overwhelming and you can feel like there is no one person you can help enough to make a difference. The Buddhist Psychological Model (Grabovac, Lau, & Willet, 2011)* gives us three tenants that can teach us how to stay present in our intention and greatness without becomming a big pile of reactions to all that surrounds us. In this way, Mrs. Klein was able to stay present and in action for Zuri.

1.     Impermanence- External experiences and our mental events (thoughts, memories, reactions) are transient. That is, they arise and they pass away.

2.     Suffering- Habitual reactions (i.e., attachment and aversion) to the transient external experiences or mental events (thoughts/feelings) can lead to suffering.

3.     Not Self- these events (internal and external) and habitual reactions to them (attachment or aversions) to not constitute anything lasting or do they comprise any part of the entity that you think of as self.

You are saying WHAT??? Does that mean??

I will explain using Mrs. Klein’s presence as an example.

1.     Impermanence: When Mrs. Klein goes to school and a student yells at or threatens her (which happens at school to the teachers no matter how much love they put out there), she knows that this too shall pass. She keeps her self safe. AND she has a sense that this is something that will pass, its transient.

2.     Suffering: Mrs. Klein has a reaction to that event- a feeling of how awful it was to be yelled at. In service of avoiding her difficult feelings, she could begin to ruminate on what happened. The ruminations would feel good. She could attach to them. Hold them in her mind. She would then be suffering. She could even identify as this experience. She then BECOMES that reaction. I AM ANGRY or I AM HURT. Do you see in the sentence structure?? I AM…. In that I AM, you become your reaction. Instead Mrs. Klein practices awareness. She says, “I feel myself hurting. I feel anger. What I experience is really uncomfortable and I feel myself in reaction.” With awareness, Mrs. Klein has choice. She can choose to be in her breath, in her full intention, in her love for the children, and her goal to bring peace and love to her school. In this way, she does not create suffering on top of the pain she has experienced. She has choice in her awareness.

3.     Not Self: As Mrs. Klein has chosen not to become her reaction (i.e., I AM MAD) or her situation (i.e., I AM A VICTIM), she has possibility. She has the freedom to be whom SHE IS- and she is an amazing young woman who brings hope, peace, and love to Zuri and many other kids like her.

We can all do this. You can choose to stay present, to see, to be in your intention. You are not your reactions or your circumstance. We ALL choose. You, me, Zuri, and Mrs. Klein. And, to be sure, Zuri and I are very, very glad that Mrs. Klein chose well.

* Grabovanc, A.D., & Lau, M., A., & Willett, B. R. (2011). Mechanisms of Mindfulness: A Buddhist Psychological Model. Mindfulness. DOI 10.1007/s12671-011-0054-5 

For an overview of the people in Zuri's life go here
http://theyogabag.blogspot.com/p/zuris-people-overview-of-poeple-is.html