Aparigraha
Reflections on living yogic-ly inspired by our Easter yoga retreat which is in the beautiful season of Autumn.
Mother Nature, when we are mindful in her presence, has a subtle teaching style. She teaches by example. Our Easter retreat in is Hepburn Springs (the traditional land of the Dja Dja Wurrung, it is a holiday village located in the middle of the largest concentration of mineral springs in Australia) at the height of the Autumn season and the colours are stunning! So there we were in the midst of Mother Nature demonstrating that it is a natural part of life to stop holding on and let go, and we noticed.
Sometimes we are so busy with each days duties and dramas that it consumes all our time and energy. Retreats give the perfect opportunity to step away from that, to be present, be in nature, to reflect, be curious and open. It is like a reset button where we can refocus and, in small steps, put our life back on the track we want it to be on.
We spent some time in Satsang at our Easter retreat April 2022 exploring yogic wisdom in such a way to integrate it into our daily life. Inspired by the Autumn season we spent longer talking on the topic of Aparigraha.
Long story short, in the ancient Yogic text the “Yoga Sutras of Patajali” 8 limbs are given for us practice and imbibe with the aim to live and awaken into yoga.
The first limb is Yama. These are 5 guidelines to live in harmony with the world around us. They are:
- Ahimsa - non violence
- Satya - truthfulness
- Asteya - non stealing
- Brahmacharya - pure conduct
- Aparigraha - Non-Accumulation of Possessions
Paramhans Swami Maheshwaranda explains aparigraha in his book “Yoga in Daily Life the System”:
“We should not accumulate goods, but only acquire and use what we need to live. One who has many possessions, also has many worries. We are born without belongings and when we again depart from this world, we leave all behind. Nonaccumulation also means to grant other people their freedom - not to hold onto others. In letting go, we also free ourselves. Therefore, to give freedom means to also to be free one’s self.”
Read more about the 8 limbs > here.
Autumn shows us how beautiful the transformation of not clinging and letting go can be.
Here are some of our retreat reflections on Aparigraha...
FLOW
We breathe in and we breathe out.
When we breathe in again it is a new breath, not the same as before. We cannot get the old breath back. In the same way life changes. We were young and we grow. Yet we try to hold on to keep
- things,
- situations,
- moments,
- other people
the same and when we can’t we suffer the angst of that. Practicing aparigraha in our daily life is a practice of not holding on to what was and instead going with the natural flow of life.
OUT GROWING
Being on retreat, away from our usual daily patterns gives the opportunity to see our life from a broader perspective and to witness our patterns. Looking deeply we ask ourselves how much of what we do and have is because of:
- social & cultural expectations
- our own self doubts and insecurities
- it once was needed
Reflecting and contemplating on aparigraha, we can liberate ourselves from patterns and habits that we've out grown and no longer serve us.
LIGHTNESS
You know that feeling of clearing out your cupboards, or moving and shedding yourself of collected stuff from the old home, or traveling and having everything you need in one bag, it’s a feeling of lightness that comes from having less. This is what practicing aprarigraha can give us. Todays society is slowly moving to this way of thinking after decades or even centuries of falsely believing that more is better. With lightness comes a feeling of freedom, the heaviness of over accumulation no longer holding us down.
A GOOD DEATH
We don’t really talk about death in our culture, yet we all will die one day. This topic came up as it seemed logical that the practicing of aparigraha was also preparation for a good death. Yes, a good death. We acknowledged it is something we should openly talk about more. In this context we discussed that the habit of clinging, holding on only enhanced suffering at the time of death. Also how we cannot take processions with us when we die, so why keep more than what we need. A few of us had had the task of distributing rooms or shed loads of processions once a loved one had died. This is worth to reflect on in relation to our own life and death.
A big THANK YOU to the retreat yogis for their generosity, openness, connection and insight that allowed for this inspiring realness and depth of our exploration of yogic wisdom.
Retreats with us are great!
by Gita Larissa
