Aparigraha

Yesterday I was walking around the neighborhood, deep in thought, when I darn-near stepped on a kid who rolled right off a small grassy hill and onto the sidewalk.  She scrambled up, clearly still dizzy, and started right up that hill to try it again.  Was she working to be the best hill-roller she could be?   Was there a group of hill-rolling kids she wanted to be a part of?  Come on, I know exactly why she was doing it!  I remember the simple freedom of rolling down a grassy hill in spring!

What a fresh reminder of what yoga calls Aparigraha.  Aparigraha is when we participate in an activity for the simple sake of participating in an activity.  As adults, so many of our activities are done for the sake of getting better, doing better, being better.  But Aparigraha reminds us to lighten up!  Try new things, just for the sake of trying something new.  Roll down a grassy hill every once in a while!  

And if we take a deeper dip into Aparigraha, we find that it isn’t just about bringing fresh activities into our life.  It’s about bringing this fresh feeling into all of our activities.  It’s about taking noticing of our reward-craving and acceptance-seeking.  It’s about taking notice when we are clenching onto something or toward someone.  Or onto a belief about ourselves.  When we take notice of our attachments, we have an opportunity to realign and reorientate ourselves, to unclench our hands from some of that control.  To roll down that hill.  

Spring is a great time to remember the value of feeling free.  

Until next time,

Laura