Teaching, Learning and Practicing Yoga and Buddhism From
Emotional Reactions to Wise Responses
When we are more mindful and mentally calm, two mental states that
Yoga and Buddhism promise us we can achieve and maintain through
their practice, we undergo a change in our perceptions of ourselves
and others.
We start to become more mindful that what may have been our
previous or recent way of reacting to others on a very emotional
level may not have always been the best thing for both them and us.
In fact, we may remember some of our reactions to others over the
years and recently with a sense of shame and guilt, realizing that
we may have hurt, demeaned or further confused them in some manner
through our ignorant and emotional reaction to what they did, or
what they shared with us.
We may also see how such a reaction demeaned ourselves and our
ability and the opportunity that we had to grow as people and make
a stronger and more compassionate connection with others.
We understand others and live a better life individually when we
see that our emotions are not the reality of life but just an
individual feeling and reaction to those things externally and
internally that we are or have been exposed to or conditioned
by.
In fact, Yoga and Buddhism are teaching us that to get all caught
up in our emotions and live based solely on their fluctuating and
sometimes confused nature is a sign of ignorance and will cause
problems for both ourselves and others.
They also teach us that what we do as far as our diet and sleep
habits, plus how we make use of our leisure time also influences
them.
Of course it is the state and functioning of our mind and body that
is the prevailing and dominating force and influence in what our
emotional state is and it is the postures of Hatha Yoga, meditation
and the understanding and the application of the various teachings
of these disciplines that makes us less emotional in both our
individual life and our interactions and reactions with
others.
The change that Yoga and Buddhism bring about starts to make us
more mindful and that mindfulness leads to a tendency to respond
based on understanding and investigation instead of our own
emotions and ego.
Yoga and Buddhism remind us in their various teachings and books
written on them that mans emotions are what over the years and
centuries and history of mankind have led to conflicts and
wars.
It is mans emotions that has made him feel that he is somehow
superior to other people, people who eat and think, live and
suffer, rejoice and cry, and bleed and die just as he does.
They also teach us that it is mans emotions that have led him to
act hastily and in unskillful and unwholesome ways that have led to
suffering for himself and others instead of taking the time to sit
back, reflect and put aside his own agenda for the common good of
others and all mankind.
What Yoga and Buddhism want us to do is be wiser in our responses.
They want us to understand that we can respond in a manner that is
wise and uplifts ourselves and those we share them with. They want
us to experience the growth that we can have when we respond
instead of react, a growth that manifests itself both as an
individual and with others.
They want us to see that when we respond with wisdom and
understanding a connection is and can be made, whereas when we
react, a conflict or further confusion is most likely the
result.
©2007 John C. Kimbrough