Yoga Stories and Essays
by Charles MacInerney
| Effort
& Grace
Hard work is often touted as the key to success. But there is more to success than working hard! The driven personality often rises rapidly and achieves spectacular success - but ultimately, this initial success is unstable and untenable. |
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It is this balance between work and rest that is often missing in our Western approach to life. Even our play can feel like work. This leads to exaggerated cycles of rapid expansion and collapse. |
 Yoga
is built upon a foundation of Yamas and Niyamas, organizing principles
for living life. Among these are Tapas and Santosa. Tapas means austerity,
and in its purest form has been described as ‘burning effort
under all circumstances to achieve your goal’. Santosa translates
as contentment. It is the balancing of these opposites that allows
for sustainable growth in our yoga practice, but also in life as a
whole.
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So it is with life: at any given moment, we must find the perfect balance between effort and grace; between striving for an idealized future, and enjoying the present moment. Those who are slaves to tapas may blaze brightly but soon burn out. Those who only know Santosa dream their lives away. Yoga helps us to harness these two opposites so that we might both discover and give form to our dreams. Creativity comes from deep relaxation. Deep relaxation can only arise when we are not struggling with the universe, but instead, are content with the universe, just as it is. Although Tapas is required to manifest dreams, the source of our dreams is Santosa. Without Santosa our goals are superficial and hollow, and any effort expended upon superficial goals is, at best, wasted. |
| Einstein doodling in the patent office… Friedrich Kekulés day-dreaming beside the fire… Newton relaxing beneath an apple tree… Archimedes soaking in a hot bath… Some of humanities greatest breakthroughs have come from individuals capable of great work, who also knew how to enjoy the moment. All are examples of Tapas and Santosa in balance. Namaste' |
A
student addressed the teacher. "How long will it take me to
master your system?" The teacher replied "Ten years."
Impatiently, the student responded, "But if I work very hard
- if I practice all day, every day - how long will it take then?"
The teacher thought for a moment, "20 years." - Zen Story
In
sustainable systems, we find opposites in balance. In nature we
see cycles of growth and rest – spring, summer, fall and winter.
Over the course of a day we cycle from rest to activity and back
to rest. The heart muscle relaxes between each contraction. Every
cell in your body follows its own rhythm of growth and rest.
Every
yoga pose requires both Tapas and Santosa. Even Savasana –
the final relaxation – requires just enough tapas that we
do not actually fall asleep. Even the most advanced and challenging
poses are improved when we learn to release unnecessary effort and
find contentment and joy in the work.
