animals & earth
THE YOGA TRADITION is one that brings the practitioner close to nature. One of our main duties as yogis is to remove obstacles that separate us from the divine spark that lies within all things. The most accessible forms to practice this principle with are the beings and things that exist all around us. We look for the similarities in the tree, the dog, the cat, and the cow, and by assuming those postures, we create relationships with the different embodied forms of life on earth.
As the story of the fish pose tells us, the very first yogi was Shiva. He is said to be the originator of the yoga tradition, and we honor him in many ways through our practice. One of the original forms of Shiva is Pashupati, the protector of the animals. Sharon Gannon and David Life, cofounders of Jivamukti Yoga, say that the yogi is the “original tree hugger,” the one who finds inherent value in remaining connected to the Earth, the plants, the animals, and all the beings and things that surround us on this planet. As Pashupati, Shiva walked softly among the beings of the earth, and they all saw him as a friend.
There is something powerful about allowing one’s heart to be so open that other beings can sense it. For the most part, human beings find it difficult to recognize this openness in others, but animals can sense it right away. They know instinctively whether someone is there to help or harm them.
Many yoga postures give us the opportunity to release fear from our hearts, including balance postures, which challenge our fear of falling; inversions, which challenge our fear of turning the world upside down; and backbends, which challenge our fear of fully opening to the moment. When fear exerts its grip, it can be an overpowering force that keeps us closed and therefore separated from the brilliant opportunities to connect that constantly surround us.
The lesson of how to become fearless always lies within the pose itself. Whether it’s through a rich story like that of Hanuman and his brave nature, or the simplicity of the dog that trusts its owner, or the crane that flies free and wild, we have much to learn from our fellow earthlings. Many of them exist without constant fear, going about their daily lives and instinctive habits without thinking, “Gosh, I wish I had done that differently.”
There’s a striking contrast between the way humans hold on to to fear and the way animals freely let go of it. In the wild, when a tiger tries to feast on a gazelle, but just misses his catch, the spared gazelle doesn’t dwell on his near-fatal experience for weeks. He doesn’t run to all of his gazelle friends and recount the story, and he doesn’t stop going to the watering hole for fear of another attack. He simply shakes his whole body, literally moving the experience through his physical form, and goes about his life.
Asanas give us the opportunity to do just the same. We get the chance to move our life experience through our body by taking the shapes of the various forms in nature. We stretch and create space in our joints and muscles and do our best to embody the essence of each posture, learning its inherent lessons and experiencing freedom in that form. When this process takes hold and begins to release the fear from our body and our heart, we are able to live our lives joyfully, moment by moment. Fear lives in us as tension, and asana postures are designed to release tension from our bodies. The absence of tension is the absence of fear. And the absence of fear signifies the presence of joy, love, and open-heartedness. As we embody these shapes of nature, we learn to fall in love with the world around us.
