There will be diversity — and the revolution will not be televised
GUEST POST: Sarah de Graaff
I remember being highly disappointed at school that I was restricted to hanging out with people EXACTLY (pretty much) the same age as me. I wanted to meet and talk to old people, twenty something’s, kids and everyone in between. I genuinely felt I could learn more about life and the world with people around me who had a variety of ages and life experience.
I went to an all girls’ school in the north of Sydney and I come from quite a conservative family. At school here seemed to be a ‘dress-code’ when we were not in uniform and everyone appeared to me as the same — a bunch of homogenous girls in jeans and white t-shirts with ponytails. However I left school (only just finishing) and promptly became the epitome of ‘feral’ and went to live in the bush to protest against logging.
This was all so different to me and from my experiences in life so far. I really felt I was doing something worthwhile but new, exciting AND different.
After a few years of this I began to see that it was another version of a ‘cool kids club’ in many ways. You needed to dress a certain way to be accepted. Shoes were not acceptable even in Gippsland in Victoria where it’s really quite cold and in winter it snows. The homogeneity became more and more apparent to me.
Whilst the word yoga is often translated as union, that does not necessarily mean ‘sameness’. In fact yoga, when applied appropriately takes into account the individual differences between us all that give us this experience of life. The one you are having right now.
It does feel nice to find a ‘family’, a group where you are accepted and your interests are encouraged and embraced. There is something wonderful about it, especially for those of us who have felt alone and lost in many areas of life. This is what happens to lots of us when we discover yoga. The ways in which we didn’t fit or don’t fit into the world are shared with others and we feel a sense of unity that was elusive before.
Maybe you are the sort of person who would never go to a gym and sweat watching the television and yoga was a way to exercise where you could be away from advertising and pop music. Maybe you sought the solace of peace and quiet in a group setting that for many of us can be so hard to cultivate. Maybe you are the impassioned animal rights activist who everybody challenges at the dinner table. How beautiful to find a ‘home’, a place where you feel appreciated, right?
Yoga encourages us to not only ‘be present’ but to constantly inquire about the nature of things and the nature of the mind. This is called Svadhyaya. An example might be how does the body respond when I ask it to make this shape? How does the mind respond? How do they influence each other? This is quite a challenge and often times with all the other goings on in life, we become complacent. We don’t NOTICE things.
Yoga teaches us that when we become complacent we don’t notice when and how things change. Yoga also offers us the idea that things are ALWAYS changing. We are encouraged to stay aware enough to keep managing and incorporating those changes into our practice and our lives.
Perhaps you came to a point in your yoga practice where you completed a teacher training, or bought cool pants to encourage you to practice. Maybe you started to eat at the local raw café, perhaps your body even changed shape and/or size. Did you notice the point where you became the ‘perfect’ yogi? Where you started to fit in? Perhaps you didn’t notice those who for whatever reason, don’t/can’t/aren’t having that same experience? Perhaps you began to neglect those who aren’t the same.
Is there a person in your class who doesn’t have even leggings? Who comes in smelling like cigarettes? Who disturbs the class by arriving late? Who holds up the check-in line by counting out coins to pay for class? Who doesn’t want to do partner work or even sometimes cries in Savasana? Was that once you? I for one want to live in a world where there is no separation. A big ask you might say. We are naturally drawn to what we like, to what is the same and makes us feel part of a whole. I cannot help feeling that to maintain the positive aspect of this we have to practice, constantly, to avoid the complacency that breeds an environment of separation. We need to stay aware enough that we don’t slip with all good intentions into a space where we foster an idea that we are/have to be a certain way, and that’s what makes us yogis.
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu — may ALL beings everywhere be happy and free and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my life create that freedom for all.
To me this means that the practice of yoga is available to anyone and everyone who wants it. There is no ONE way to look or to be as a yogi. One of my teachers often says to me: ‘Have a look out the window. See that old man walking really slowly across the pedestrian crossing with a walking frame? How do you know he isn’t doing a yoga practice right now? How do you know he isn’t more dedicated to his practice than you are to yours?’ YOU DON’T!!! That’s the thing. Yoga is personal, internal and about your relationship with yourself. No one can see that. To really offer that Sukhino part to others we need to move away from the idea that yoga happens the same way for us as it does for others. It also may not be capturable on Instagram or postable on YouTube. (There are still many people who do not have access to and some who choose not to use this technology).
Yoga, ever evolving and right now being so popular, has come to create these great families of like-minded people. They are even called Tribes by some. But does this environment exclude others who are perhaps newer and don’t fit the mould? Or even those who choose with many years of practice to do something different. We are always changing, always evolving. Within all the different paths and experiences one day that ‘new’, ‘different’ yogi might have the experience of considering if their ‘home’, their new ‘family’ is open to others and has room for more.
About Sarah de Graaff:
Sarah (de Graaff) founded and teaches yoga at ‘The Mind and Movement Centre’ in Redfern Sydney. The yoga practice is especially offered in a way that is sensitive to the experience of living with mental health challenges. Sarah brings her lived experience of mental health challenges and caring for another with mental health challenges to her teaching and all yoga inquiry. As dharma calls her to not only be close to but feel part of a movement that acknowledges everyone’s mental health needs Sarah seeks to educate yoga teachers about these issues, and how to offer understanding and a safe class environment. She is passionate about cultivating a healthy relationship to what and how we feel, and in turn how we live life.
