Clarity in Contrast: Becoming the Leaf in the River
Ever since I enrolled in the Advanced Sutra Study course with Alexandra McRobert and The Mindful Life Practice (MLP), I have been completely immersed in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. This class, which can be taken after completing a prerequisite Yoga Sutra Study Masterclass, allows students to join numerous Sutra study classes each week and fully “nerd out” on yoga philosophy to their hearts’ content (and if you are wondering, my heart is truly very content as a result of these classes! Alexandra McRobert refers to studying the sutras as a “spiritual practice” that enriches her life, and I couldn’t agree more).
Why Study the Sutras?
Written sometime between 600BCE and 200 BCE, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali contains 196 sutras, or “threads.” When woven together, these threads, or individual teachings, allow us to gain important insights regarding yoga philosophy and how it can impact our lives.
Whether it’s…
learning how to still the fluctuations of the mind (vṛitti-s) (which can contribute to such mental health issues as anxiety and depression),
contemplating how to interact with ourselves and others to increase our inner peace,
understanding the causes of our suffering, or
studying the eight limbs of yoga and their potential benefits,
the yoga sutras truly bring us infinite wisdom, which can help us as we navigate the ebbs and flows of life!
When the Sutras Start to Show Up for you Everywhere!
As often happens whenever any of us spend a lot of time focusing on one particular topic, I now find that I am constantly seeing things that make me think of the sutras. Whether I make connections to the sutras in articles that I’m reading, videos that I’m watching, something that someone says to me, or a life experience that is unfolding before me, the interconnectedness between day-to-day life and yoga philosophy are ever-present!
And so when a video from YouTube randomly showed up in Facebook feed and, for some unknown reason, I clicked on it, I was immediately able to make connections to the sutras.
The video, which is entitled “The Fall,” was created by Desirae Witte, and it allows us to witness the transformations of autumn from the perspective of a maple leaf. At the beginning of the video, our main character —a golden-colored leaf named Leafie —hears a frightening noise: he has started to break away from the tree branch to which he is attached. Although he is absolutely terrified, and it is clear that he is desperate to cling on to the tree that has provided him with safety, security and nourishment throughout his life, he cannot avoid the inevitable plummet that he –like all autumn leaves –must make towards the earth below.
After a terror-filled free fall, Leafie opens his eyes to find that he laying on top of a pile of dead leaves, and he realizes that he is surrounded by his deceased friends. He immediately identifies a former friend, Derek, and begins to scream in panic.
Even more interesting is the perspective that is shown when this animated short decides to zoom out and take us away from its main character. As viewers, we are then able to see this fictitious world in its entirety, and the setting appears to be quite tranquil! The weather is beautiful, and our main character does not appear to be descending at an alarming speed towards the ground below. Instead, Leafie is gently floating down to the earth like a feather that is being carried by a small gust of wind. Once this frightened leaf has settled on top of a mound of leaves, which is located at the base of the tree, a small child spots the leaf pile and begins to joyfully play with this fun, autumnal gift!
An Autumn Leaf and the Sutras
So what did I observe in this video that made me think of the sutras? Plenty!
In The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Patanjali helps us to identify the root causes of our suffering, or the kleśhas, and several of these obstacles are demonstrated in “The Fall.”
In Sutra 2.3, he states that these five kleśhas are…
avidyā (ignorance),
asmita (ego),
rāga (attachment to things outside of you),
dveṣa (aversion), and
abhinveṣa (fear of death or fear of change).
As Alexandra McRobert explains, avidyā is at the heart of all of the causes of suffering, and it can be described as spiritual ignorance, which takes place when we forget that we are “protected and…loved by the universe.” We forget that everything that takes place in our lives is “happen[ing] for a reason,” and we can place our trust in the universe rather than worrying about how our paths will unfold.
In “The Fall,” Leafie has forgotten who he truly his (i.e. his true Self). He is so preoccupied with the external world (the tree to which he is connected, the other leaves in his community, etc.), that he doesn’t place any trust in the divine plans of the universe.
He begins to desperately cling to life as he knows it (rāga), and he fears both change and death (abhiniveṣa). Although I cannot say that I blame Leafie (as unwillingly falling from a tree and landing on a pile of your dead friends certainly sounds like a series of events that one would only encounter in a nightmare), when we compare and contrast this portion of the cartoon with the scene that zooms out and shows us that the leaf is, in actuality, slowly floating down from the tree and softly landing onto the pile of leaves, we are able to see that there are different ways to perceive and move through the world.
Clarity in Contrast
Interestingly, the day after I watched the very memorable video that I described above, I attended a free yoga class that one of the members of the Mindful Life Practice Community was offering. During savasana, the yoga instructor, Carolyn Millward, shared a meditation, which presented me with an example of leaf, which was much more sattvic (balanced and peaceful) in its overall demeanor and approach to life. She read the following:
“Imagine [that] you’re a leaf floating down a river. You don’t clutch the bank or fight the current, and yet you are not passive! You move and turn and play and dance with the flow.
This is surrender…not weakness.” It is a “wise participation in the flow of life.
Just like that leaf, you can paddle when needed (tapas” (internal drive / passion)), “you can read and anticipate the currents (svadhyaya”) (self-study), “and you can surrender to the currents when needed so [that] you are able to navigate the rapids with relative ease and grace.
The leaf doesn’t cling to the rocks (rāga)…resist the current (dveṣa), [or] fear the ocean. Because surrender is the moment when the wave realizes it is the ocean.”
Without a doubt, the speed with which the universe presented me with a second story about a leaf –a leaf that was starkly different from the first –was to provide me with clarity in contrast.
My Take-Aways
Now, whenever I hear someone talking about the need to “let go” or “go with the flow,” I can’t help but giggle inwardly, as I picture the very dramatic autumn leaf, as he desperately attempts to avoid change due to his extreme fear and attachments.
But, how many times in life have I acted exactly as that leaf has? In what ways do I currently cling too hard to something for fear of losing it or due to a fear of change? How often do we all get caught up in the things that cause us suffering or get swept up in our own thought spirals (vṛitti-s)?
As Alexandra McRobert often says when she is teaching a class on the yoga sutras, “yoga is the solution.” Yoga can help us to still the fluctuations of the mind (Sutra 1.2) and reduce the effects of the kleśhas (Sutras 2.10-2.11). As we start to turn inward more often through practices such as svadhyaya (self-study), asana (the physical postures of yoga), pranayama (breathwork) and, in particular, meditation, we can begin to develop a deeper connection with our spirituality and with our Selves, and we can lessen the strong ties that we have to our egos, attachments, and aversions. Moreover, we can start to develop more awareness around any negative habits or patterns that we have, which cause us suffering.
If you would like to increase your yoga practices and join me in the endeavor to reduce the effects of the kleśhas and vṛitti-s in our everyday lives, I cannot recommend the Sutra Sangha membership with the MLP more highly! With weekly asana practices, meditation circles and discussions around different yoga philosophy concepts, members of the MLP truly receive so many effective tools and practices, which can be used to help us to become more like the second leaf…the leaf that is able to navigate the currents of this river voyage that we call “life!”
You can sign up for the Sutra Sangha membership here: https://www.themindfullifepractice.com/membership
