Everything is going so fast we get carried out without a single moment to address what is truly important. We don’t even have the time to process what our lives are turning into. There’s so much noise around, a constant flood of information. Our minds are restlessly thinking, trying to figure it out and make sense of the world. Because we are wired to consider our thoughts as reality, to fit an infinite universe in a finite brain, to search for immediate answers and to suppress incertainty. As anxiety prospers and fears emerge, we feel powerless and deprived of the most basic sense of control.

So what to do?

The answer is, start with the inner space. And let the world follow. It sounds like a paradox, but following an old saying, we might need to change ourselves first in order to change the world. The idea of change does not necessarily imply to become someone, but rather, to unbecome who we were made to be and find out who we truly are. 

The inner space is where our intimate life happens. Turbulence and silence, thoughts and emotions, echos and dreams… When exploring the inner space, we can watch our feelings, conditionings, traumas, but also our needs, intuitions and desires. We learn to see ourselves apart from the fantasies of the mind.

Let’s give it a try : who are you? Forget about your job, country, family and friends, your activities and opinions, your hobbies and tastes, try to give an honest question that does not include any of the above. Hard, isn’t it? We usually rely on multiple identities and on our past to define ourselves. And when it comes to personality and character, we might turn to psychology to make sense of who we are, or simply say : “this is who I am”. Which translates to “this is who I think I am”. And this particular belief is the root of a universal problem. As human beings, we are thinking the “being” part, which becomes a construct rather than a pure expression of life. How did we end up thinking that being happens in the mind?

It’s time to realise we are not what we think. There is a way to clear the mind in order to know who we are without disturbance, to get in touch with our pure being. Self-observation happens to be one of the most underrated tools of all times. Some even consider it a waste of time. We all know how action has become a dogma, belittling anything else. In fact, action is key to happiness. But what is action if we still feel lifeless and desperate? Action only makes sense when it is aligned with who we are. Otherwise it is not action, it is just activity.  So in order to support action, one might have to go back to the initial question : Who am I ? But let me clear something first. Self-observation does not equal self-analysis, it is abstaining from making judgements and conclusions, it is not an intellectual process. As fond as we could be of our incredible brain capacities like imagination, memory or logic, the assignment is to witness only.

It is possible to get back our power on this place called the inner space. It happens when we take the time to give inner life our full attention, even a few minutes a day. If we get sick physically, we make sure to understand what is going on and to recover. But when it is a very common mental issue like depression, we think it is our “bad normal”, that it shall pass, we let it sink or we cure the symptoms to go back to the “good normal”, so that we keep going. We might systematically seek external help or fall into short-term coping mechanisms or distractions. For severe mental problems, professional help is vital. But for life crisis and breakdowns and bad days, how does it work? What about supporting our mental health on a regular basis, what if there was simply a mental maintenance to do, just like we take care of our bodies to stay fit and healthy? Because we never learnt otherwise. Mental issues are in fact not very welcome in this world, they are inevitably considered weakness of character. Or even an inability to fit in the world. But then who built the character? Is the world really a sane place to be? 

The problem is never suffering, it is not knowing what we suffer from, and thus staying trapped in a hole. It is also believing that suffering is our human condition, which leads to suppressing pain like the worst enemy instead of paying attention to what it is trying to tell us. We are not designed to be miserable, we are beings of light who are ashamed of darkness. But once you really see the light, you will never feel that way again. You will honor every part of you, including the shadows.

This brings me to yoga. This is a genuine review of a practical philosophy that has probably changed my life. The ultimate form of yoga is meditation, which consists of stilling the mind in order to connect with our higher self. All other practices and principles of yoga are preparatory to reach this stage. When you start meditating, you notice that your mind is savage, constantly seeking attention, eager to exist. So you learn to witness your thoughts instead of feeding them, to distance who you are from this wild creature that is the mind. Only then, when the mind is still, can you connect with your soul, with God or the universal power, whatever you might call it. This is why yoga means union, an absolute connection. This may not make sense to many people, but it is the experience of millions of people, not only mine. 

Then one question arises : why is yoga also a physical practice ? The answer is, our mind was never separate from our body, it is a myth that served many purposes in history but is detrimental to our health. The mind-body connection is obvious and strong, everything you think and feel happens in the body in the form of chemicals and electricity. The  functioning of this complex system depends on the nervous system. Bringing our attention to the body including the breath while doing various healing postures balances the nerves system. This is the main reason we practice yoga. 

I have always been a seeker, when I was younger my sole ambitions were balance and freedom, I felt different from most people who would chase status, money, or fame. I was obsessed with knowing myself, wasting a lot of time on the way, feeling lost too often, making countless errors, but I never gave up. Sometimes, when the darkness or the fog were too thick, I would think I was crazy to follow such a frustrating path, when I could just chase security like most people do. But I knew very early on that material security, which I had as a kid, did not equal at all feeling secure. It feels strange to pick an unusual path which lacks any sense of security, belonging or recognition. It seems irrational when you care about your basic needs or if you give credit to Maslow’s pyramid. But from my prospective, I had no other choice but to follow my deepest desire : to find myself. 

With love,

Sarah