Yoga “O Rings”: 21st Installment Yoga Inspirationals.

                 Yoga and the Place of Soul

On a recent trip out of state, I attended yoga class
seven days in a row with no duplicate sessions.  Some featured music and some didn’t, some
included chanting near the end and some didn’t, some used scented oil and some
didn’t. I was surprised that being in an unfamiliar place and experiencing new
forms of practice created an opening within me that I had not previously
experienced.  In one situation, during a
slow-moving class, I was connecting in a new way. Afterwards, I realized that
is what yoga was made for, to tune into a deeper and more authentic self.

I think I briefly touched what I can only describe
as my soul. The music, scented oils, meditations, slow movement, breath work,
chanting and bell-ringing were new vehicles that helped me find previously
untraveled roads. In those few moments, a fresh mantra came to me and I now use
it in meditation.  It’s a spiritual
mantra, helping me focus on being a better person and presence in the world, both
to myself and others.

B.K.S. Iyengar wrote about how yoga went beyond mere
physical practice too, “My own body was the laboratory, in which I saw the
health benefits of yoga, but I could already see that yoga would have as many
benefits for my head and heart as it did for my body.”

I’ve had more than my share of spiritual experiences,
including spiritually focused sweat lodges, Andean mountain-side pyramid
building and centering rituals, Indian prayers and meditations at the Gandhi
Center in New Delhi, Gestalt doctoral level group practicums centering on
spirituality and psychodrama, spiritual retreats, peace center events, drum
circles, church choral gatherings, 14-years working as clergy developing and
leading a variety of rituals, and once an encounter with a shape shifter in
India.

I’m not fooled by shallowness or convinced by
zealots of the source for moving spiritual moments. I’m in it for the long
haul, and I am convinced yoga is a spiritual practice.

Carl Jung once wrote that unless a person has a deep
spiritual community to which they belong and one that allows for presence of
the holy, a person will fall victim to the lower denominators of outrageous
base instincts or even evil.

That leads me to ask how a yoga community incorporates
the presence of the holy. The answer can be confusing, because during yoga
inspiration, one experiences the paradoxical reality of being with other people
while at the same time being most completely with one’s soul. But in classes,
the tools are present for individuals to experience private moments of honesty.

I think yoga classes are one of those powerful
spiritual communities Jung wrote about. Unlike many communities, it creates
space and lays down a platform for the most honest human encounter with oneself
while in the company of others. I’ve found nothing but respect for each
individual and their journey while attending a variety of classes. This kind of
positive regard creates conditions for change, transformation and even the most
profound self-revelation.

It’s not a perfect community, but it does not have
to be, for even its imperfection it opens up a place of soul, where honesty and
healing take place.