April news & pratipakṣa bhāvana

Wed. Apr. 10th, 7:30-8:45pm – New session (11 weeks) of Traditional Hatha Yoga starts at the Meredith Centre. All levels. Registration is through the Meredith Centre. Drop-ins are also welcome.

Sat. Apr. 20, 4:00-5:00pm – Community Kirtan at Vraie Nature Yoga. This a free event, open to all. Join us for the singing of yoga mantras, and the chanting of OM 108 times. Children are welcome. Snack-style potluck (vegetarian) to follow.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions about these offerings!

And now for a little story…

Over March Break, we booked two nights at a local hotel, mostly for a break from the usual routine, and to take full advantage of the swimming pool! My girls love the water. Me, I like hot tubs… but regular pools… they’re too cold! Or so I thought. Heading to the pool, I had this track running on repeat in my mind: “I’m going to freeze in there, I don’t want to go in!” But then, a moment of clarity dawned within me, and I decided to change that track. And I started to repeat, over and over in my mind: “It’s going to be refreshing! Refreshing, refreshing, refreshing…”

And guess what? It worked! Was I chilly? Yes. But I did manage to get (actually jump!) in there, and I did feel refreshed, and I did have fun, and I was pleased that I had spent that joyful time with my girls. I changed my habitual thoughts, my habitual words, my habitual actions… As I reflected on this later, I recalled that beautiful passage from the Vedas:

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; for it becomes your destiny.

What I did that day, not quite realizing it at the time, is an example of pratipakṣa bhāvana: the practice of taking a negative thought and replacing it with a positive or helpful one. “Positive thinking” is a popular idea nowadays, but can you believe that the practice of pratipakṣa bhāvana has been around in the yoga world since about 200 BC (if not earlier)! This is when it was recorded in Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras, in verse 2.33:

When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite ones should be thought of. This is pratipakṣa bhāvana.

This doesn’t mean that you repress your feelings, or tell yourself lies. After all, the first precepts in yoga are ahiṃsā (nonviolence) and satya (truthfulness). But it does mean that you deliberately shift from a limited/limiting perspective to a broader, kinder one. A few more examples:

• from “That person is annoying/hurting me” to “That person is helping me to develop compassion”
• from “I’m so busy, there’s so much to do today” to “At this very moment, everything is just fine – take one moment at a time”

This week, watch your thoughts, and see if you can identify a recurring thought that weighs you down. Be specific; write it out. And don’t judge yourself for having such thoughts; it is just the nature of the mind to reflect what is has absorbed. Now consider how you might replace this negative thought with an uplifting one. Write this down too, and refer to it throughout the week. I’d love to hear how it goes!