Returning to Balance
Samasthiti is the name of a very familiar pose in the Yoga syllabus. All the asanas (Yoga postures) are described or named through the beautiful language of Sanskrit. We don’t have to be Sanskrit scholars to engage in the Practice of Yoga but it is often very helpful to know the translations of the asanas so we can fully understand their symbolism & the intention behind their existence. ‘Sama’ means same, equal or as one ‘Sthita’ is translated as standing, steadfast, present & firm. These root words married together to create ‘Samasthiti’ hold a deeper meaning than just a posture-title describing a body that is standing upright, what is also implied by Samasthiti is a way of being in equanimity, poise and balance.
My understanding of The Curriculum of Yoga is such that we are encouraged to care for the body by exercising it, yes but also to observe the health of the mind, the intensity of our emotional responses & the standards of behaviour towards others. So let us look at Samasthiti as a concept as much as it is a posture.
We experience life as a series of seeming paradoxes: good/bad, happy/sad, kind/selfish, birth/death, pleasure/pain etc. but what Yoga encourages us to do is to steady ourselves sufficiently so as to stand behind the duality from the vantage point of our consciousness and see the whole….to be the watcher of the big picture, to simply witness the dramas we encounter without getting sucked in by them….This, my Friends, while being a simple concept to intellectually understand is probably the most difficult aspect of our Practice to implement and the reason we need to do Yoga every day.
To wobble or to fall is not a failure within Yoga, but rather an invitation to recognise that we need to return to balance again & again.
We learn humility & humour as we tumble out of headstand, we learn that if we get sick perhaps it’s because we didn’t take time for rest when we should have, we get embarrassed by looking back on bad behaviour BUT we get back up, brush ourselves off and walk on with just a little bit more love, just a little bit more insight & hopefully a little bit more Samasthiti.
Om Shanthi
