In reviewing some of the things that actually make yoga yoga, I have been posting about the Eight Limbs of Yoga. The first two limbs, the yamas and the niyamas are restraints and observances, respectively. I am working my way through posting about them and I am on the last of the yamas. The fifth yama is one that probably speaks to many of us. The fifth yama is about non-coveting, non-hoarding, non-clinging, non-possessiveness, non-greediness, non-grasping, etc. You get the picture. The fifth yama is aparigraha.
I think this is a big one in our have-to-have-the-latest-and-greatest-of-everything society. We covet the new electronic gizmo our neighbor has. We buy more than we need until our closets and garages are over flowing. We have so much stuff that there are places we can rent to store the stuff that doesn’t fit in our homes. We cling to the very idea that our lives will be better with more stuff. We are compelled to consume. And all of that is if we are just talking about material things.
There are other applications of aparigraha, just like with all the limbs and the other yamas, much could be and has been written about them. I am just barely scratching the surface. Another way to think about aparigraha and the “non-clinging” is letting go. Perhaps we cling to things that no longer serve us, whether they be ideas or habits or even long standing customs. Does everything we do serve us now? Could we learn more if we let go of something we have always thought to be? Would our lives improve if we didn’t do that thing that we have always done?
Another way it could be applied is to people or relationships whether we look at it as letting go or non-possessing. We might need to let someone go, a relationship that is no longer serving us. Perhaps we have just grown apart or we realize that the relationship is just not a healthy thing so we need to let go. Or, more directly related to teachers in my line of work and students, perhaps we need to let them go. We need to not think of students as ours, so when they visit other classes we are not offended. When they move on to different teachers we can practice aparigraha, by not getting hurt because they were “our” student. No matter the reason they moved on, we can happily let them go to move on to what is best for them.
I liked that example of the fifth yama very much. It is a great thing for me to remember and try to practice. I mean I already know about the rest and I seriously need to work on it – as evidence by my closets. But I liked the different way to look at it, too. I always feel funny saying “my” students because I don’t mean for it to sound like they are MINE, especially since at the Camden Community Center, where I have a bulk of my classes the students are students to many instructors.
As is the case with all the yamas, I need to work on this one. I am planning on practicing it big time as I do some Spring cleaning. Going to try to not-hoard, as is my habit with clothing. Might (notice I say might) part with more of my mom’s clothing, which I probably never will wear, but I was clinging to – for many reasons.
How about you? Do you have anything (whether it be a material object or an idea, habit, or custom) that you might practice aparigraha with?
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