Tapas

This week's niyama is tapas. Tapas is translated as heat, but interpreted many ways. Dedicated effort, austerity, enthusiasm. It refers to the internal heat we all have to varying degrees that we use to get things done.

I mentioned last week that discipline is often looked at with disdain by our society. It is looked at, in my opinion, as a reduction in freedom. As a society based around the idea of being "free", we take offense at the idea of being restricted in any way.

But restriction leads to growth. Being able to control yourself will prevent myriad problems that our decadent society tends toward; addictions of all kinds. We want to feel alive. We want to feel good. What we tend to reach for to achieve that feeling is temporary. In the short term it works well, but it has no staying power.

We must exert some effort in order to achieve a lasting kind of goodness. It takes strength of will to be able to choose what is good for us, especially when the short term feel good is so easy; so readily available; so generally encouraged.

When we are told that we need to make changes, we feel that we have been wrong to this point. Obviously, if I must change my ways of doing things, it's because I've been doing things wrong. But this is not the case. There are just many ways of doing things. In order to become the best, brightest version of ourselves, we must work at it; we must be willing to be flexible in our perspectives.

As adults, we are daunted by the idea of hard work. We can do it, but we do it begrudgingly. Do you remember when you had the energy to do what ever you wanted? Do you remember a time when dedicating your time to building something was a joy and not a task? The work we do to grow only has to feel like work if we let it. If we can draw out our inner child, we can do amazing things with enthusiasm.

When did we become convinced the wonder of a child's perspective is embarrassing? When did we begin thinking that "childish" is an insult? Do you remember when you were unabashedly yourself? As an increasingly aware adult, I have often marveled at the change I went through as I became a young adult. I remember having a key chain that read, "I'm not opinionated, I'm just always right." Now that's not an attitude I generally encourage, but I miss the days of being that sure of myself. At some point I lost that. I began to buy into the idea that other people were right and I was wrong. That's just sad. I gained a timidity that I see reflected all around me. We are so worried about what others think of us. I can understand that we need each other to survive, but do we need to put so much stock into the opinion of others? When will we lift ourselves up and value our own opinions?

That's not to say that I want to be right all the time, or that I think you should think you're right all the time. That is a narrow minded attitude that truly is childish. But the best of our children can still be found within us, right along side the worst. Let's see if we can draw on the wonder, the joy, the open, unprejudiced view of people who haven't been conditioned to societies norms yet; who don't know how much they glow and if they did, they would feel embarrassed and try to stifle it. Don't stifle yourself today, this week, or ever.

This week's asana will be an effort to overcome self consciousness in order to do hard work with a joyful mind. We will get sweaty and be silly, and hopefully, learn something of what it is like to let go of the defenses we erect in order to feel less embarrassment.