There are two central concepts in yoga philosophy that govern our practice and lead us to a still mind. The first is effort, called Abhyasa in Sanskrit, and the other is surrender, called Vairagya. We know that we have to do some active work in order to see results. That’s Abhyasa. However, we need to balance that work with surrender as well in order to declutter the mind and detach from all of the things that we misidentify with.
This surrendering process, contrary to popular belief, is also an active process. We can’t simply repeat to ourselves, “I let go”, and expect that life will be perfectly easeful. Instead, yoga invites us to investigate what we identify with, or in other words, who we think we are. With internal reflection, we realize that we are not the things we think we are. We are more than just this limited self, based on limited perception. To get to this realization though, we must go through our minds categorically and surrender each of our false beliefs. Ask yourself, am I this body? Am I this thought? Am I my past, or future? Am I the stories I continually tell myself? Am I what everyone else thinks I am?
With a clear, focused mind developed by Abhyasa, we can start to deconstruct many of these identifications as we watch them rise and fall like waves. We surrender who we thought we were to who we are becoming, day by day, with dedicated practice. Life flows easier as we have less to get triggered about. We can sit and watch life unfold beautifully with bemusement rather than self-righteousness or attachment to outcomes.
Abhyasa and Vairagya form the foundation for yogic spiritual practice and self-inquiry, and we need both. Just don’t forget to take time for the letting go part of the equation.
