Saṃskāra

Daily Om said yesterday:

"Each of us reacts to stimulus based on what we have learned in life. There is no right or wrong to it; it is simply the result of past experience. Later, when our strong feelings have passed, we may be surprised at our reactions. Yet when we face a similar situation, again our reactions may be the same. When we understand those experiences, we can come that much closer to understanding our reactions and consciously change them. 

Between stimulus and reaction exists a fleeting moment of thought. Often, that thought is based on something that has happened to you in the past. When presented with a similar situation later on, your natural impulse is to unconsciously regard it in a similar light."

This concept is known as saṃskāra, in the Sanskrit language, or Saṅkhāra (Pali.) It is a part of the Buddhist philosophy which translates well into yoga philosophy. Have you ever known yourself to have a reaction to an event that you are currently experiencing which is way beyond the reaction that this event would normally call for? An example that Daily Om gives is witnessing a minor car accident after having experienced being in a major (traumatic) accident. Your reaction to that fender bender might be for your heart to start beating rapidly and your adrenaline to begin pumping. You might, for a moment, find yourself experiencing fear on behalf of the people in the vehicles, even if the collision took place at low speeds.

This is one form of saṃskāra. The ways that we react to any event are based on our past conditioning. One thing I have been practicing in my own life is to take a closer look at those moments when I feel my past conditioning rising up, and seeing if I can take that "sacred pause" before reacting. Sometimes, I can't. I react in anger or hurt feelings or upsetness, before my higher mind (that which we call "the witness" in yoga philosophy) can step back and observe how I am reacting to the event which is taking place before me. Often times, I find that my reaction is much bigger, or more emotional, than the current situation calls for.

It is in those moments, when I can observe myself reacting, that I find the opportunity to grow. I can look into myself and ask myself whether my response was in reaction to the argument I am having with the person in front of me, or if I am reacting to a "trigger"-- something the person may have said that reminded me of something from my past (something my ex-husband used to say or do that I found hurtful; or even something that my parents used to say or do.) I find that occasionally my reaction has merit, but more often than not it is a reaction to something that happened to me in the past, that my mind is involuntarily relating to the current moment.

In yoga we practice being present with every moment in our life. We practice not allowing our conditioning (or  saṃskāra) to rule over our present reactions. In this practice we may find that we are more at peace in our relationships, and with ourselves.

I know that personally when I do not allow my saṃskāra to rule my reactions, I am a calmer, more thoughtful person; and I like that version of myself better than I like the one which reacts in kind to past conditioning. I am not always perfectly capable of remembering this technique, I am after all, human. But I do work towards attempting to react with a peaceful heart and mind. This is why we call it a Practice.

Similarly in your Asana practice you may find yourself reacting to a certain pose in anger, or aprehension, or simply by thinking "Oh I hate this pose, when is she going to let us stop doing it?" Or "Why did I come to yoga today, when I could have been sleeping in/going out to lunch or dinner instead?" Consider that these reactions are normal responses to our past conditioning. We may feel a strong stretch  in our downward dog if we have very tight hamstrings, and we may name that feeling as "pain," which causes us to react in a negative way to that feeling of opening that we are creating in our muscles**. But if we can convince ourselves to feel the "pain" (negative connotation) and associate it with the word "opening" or "expansion" (postivite connotation) then we begin to consciously reprogram our saṃskāra, and we may then begin to react differently the next time we are in the pose.

(**Of course if the pain you are feeling in a pose is ever a sharp, tearing or ripping sensation I recommend taking yourself out of the pose immediately, or backing off the stretch to a point where you are not causing damage or possible injury to your muscles/joints.)