“Gaze softly at a single spot as if it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.” I did. It was. This focus drew me into the moment because my mind, bathed in distress over a world torn by strife, had its moment of surrender and peace.

For Centuries, a practical and final goal of yoga-wisdom has been relinquishment or letting go of mental garbage that binds and holds us down. People have found peace by learning to let things go, but I’ve noticed it is not easy. Humans seem to gravitate toward a life driven by tasks and active focus. The pandemic and increased isolation was difficult because many of our normal tasks were put on hold.

 But one gift of yoga is how it grounds us fully in the moment. A soft, focused gaze to a small image or blank space can be active meditation. We are offered a focus and released for a moment from our concerns of acting on a task. The task becomes gazing softly and that is all.

It’s tempting to find a meditative cocoon in yoga, and from that peaceful place to ignore social problems surrounding us. This leads to the criticism that yoga fosters escapist tendencies. But yogis live in this world where social problems and the world’s bitterness exist.

It’s a touch of reality to acknowledge the full spectrum of life’s truth as Aimee Lin does in her description of the human condition. “Truth contains beauty, balance, empathy, mercy, love and insight, but also horror, brutality, and desperate need.”

Yogis see the positives too and we acknowledge the good work many people are doing while engaged with society: acupuncture, natural medicine, massage, organic food, yoga, and other self-care health investments. We want to be whole and we’re aware that it’s not easy to find a balance in caring for self and making enough money to get by.

I grew up learning that it’s right to be my brothers’ and sisters’ keeper, and maybe you did too. To be a brother’s keeper (or sister) means we care for the human family, not just ours. In our day, in my country, this might mean we will be moved to act as human shields for others – something unforeseen even a few years ago.

An American philosopher once said it’s not civil disobedience that we need to worry about, its civil obedience, and blind compliance with unjust laws or authorities. Ghandi acted out of this principal, and his acts for truth force satyagraha were meant to address social change. He carried out satyagraha to enact change through civil disobedience.

We’re not done with the soft gaze yet, because my yoga reminds me of the link between my yoga practice and the rest of my life. One of my teachers said, “You’re here taking care of yourself so that you can go out into the world and take care of everybody and everything else.”

In AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda, the film portrayed Yogananda as being dismayed by the treatment of African Americans in the pre-Civil Rights Jim Crowe American South. But beyond speaking of his dismay, the movie did not mention what steps he took to help change or challenge those conditions. Yogis cannot escape from any of this because the yoga world still is, like all work worlds, the world of people.

Historically, yoga has not been involved in movements for diversity, and yoga’s most public and popular leadership has not been outspoken in condemning racism, sexism, and xenophobia in a public, strong, and deliberate way.

Yoga has not made diversity a prime directive in its recruitments and offerings, but it is changing because today’s centered (awake) citizens see the incongruence and even selfishness of taking care of oneself only to ignore the larger world. We know deep down that being our brother’s keeper and sister’s keeper is the right thing, even if this sounds old-fashioned.

Yoga’s new edge will champion social inclusion and justice; it will do so because of its foundational philosophy is built on the deep abiding spiritual connection between everyone. It starts with the source, or in the term most Westerners recognize, God.

This belief can move us beyond indifference because we are all brothers and sisters, and we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. I believe that yogis, learning so much about awareness and self-management, are prepared, ready, and capable of engaging in activity to create a better world.

This is not to criticize yogis from the past who were not known for their civil actions because they were part of their historic time. By the same logic, we are part of a time which is brimming with opportunities to engage in a social way and be the honorable citizens and awake yogis that our yoga (oneness) calls us to be.

The time to put our preparation and readiness to work is now.

• We can hold meetings in our yoga space to talk about social justice
• We can reach out to invite someone new and not of our race to yoga
• We can contribute to anti-defamation efforts in our community or invite special guests to speak on racial justice and social responsibility
• We can turn our meditative ears outward to listen deeply for direction
• We can respond as a community and individually.

We all know the meditative repose of yoga practice offers a time and place to contemplate the beauty and find peace there, and this is good because it fills us with compassion. A compassionate conscience is moved to stand with – and to speak up against – the ugly winds of negative – isms’ everywhere. Let’s be part of yoga’s new edge by building a truly inclusive life practice.

Truth force is nothing if it is disengaged from society; and that is why yogis today are called to move from within to without, from the center – where we are all one – to the edge, where we become our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.

Her words ring in my ear, “Take care of yourself so that you can go out there and take care of everyone and everything else.” Perhaps they are words for you too.