Yoga is About Breaking Down Walls

Why it may be a powerful antidote to increasingly polarization.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

If you look around, you can chalk up a lot of the problems in our world to the idea of separation.

Political polarization, violence, and bigotry stem from the idea that there’s a distinct “us” and a separate “them.” The ongoing climate catastrophe happening before our eyes is the result of thinking we are separate from nature. Disagreements about religion and philosophy can be traced back to the idea of there being an objective “right” and “wrong.”

Yoga can be a powerful antidote to these untruths. In fact, yoga is very specifically a pathway to a type of enlightenment in which all walls separating us from the universe fall away. Like deep meditation, psychedelics, or pure unadulterated joy, if we do yoga right, we can experience a state of deep oneness and unity with all things.

Yoga teaches us that every human being is essentially the same, since every human being has a spark of the divine. The same goes for the air you breathe, the food you eat, and the trees that provide shade for your morning walk.

Certainly, we all have differences — ones that we should celebrate. Oneness doesn’t translate to sameness. But, at our very essence, humans aren’t separate from each other. We all suffer, and we all want to be free from suffering.

Of course, our world seemingly operates unaware of this deep truth. All around us are hierarchies, laws, and systems meant to separate and discriminate, whether on the basis of someone’s skin color, how they identify, their nation of origin, or who they love.

Yoga calls us to break down these walls, first in ourselves, and then, all around us. We can’t hope to fix the systems that bind us overnight, but we can do this work in ourselves. We come to yoga to heal ourselves so that we can heal others.

By practicing the yamas and niyamas (especially nonviolence, or ahimsa), asana, pranayama, and meditation, we can dissolve the things that keep us separated and discover the “highest secret,” as the Bhagavad Gita points out.

“The true yogis, uniting their consciousness with God, see with equal eye, all living beings in God and God in all living beings.”

Breaking down these walls isn’t easy work, but it’s essential.

Practice:

One of the most powerful meditations to help dissolve the walls that separate us comes from the Buddhist tradition. It’s called “metta” meditation, or loving-kindness meditation.

The easiest way to start with loving-kindness meditation is to practice it on yourself before moving onto others.

• Sit. Find a comfortable position to sit. It helps if your hips are above your knees, so maybe sit on a blanket or pillow.

• Breathe. Take a few deep, nourishing breaths in and out of the nose. Close your eyes when it feels comfortable.

• Mantra. When you feel relaxed, begin gently repeating phrases like “May I be happy” and “May I find peace” in your mind.

• Visualize. Don’t just say these words — really visualize yourself sending yourself positive feelings and loving energy.

If you really want to take this meditation to the next level, try picturing someone you don’t know that well, and then sending them love and compassion.

For the “extra hard mode,” try picturing someone you actively dislike, and then wish them happiness and peace.

Journal:

Here are some journal prompts for this week.

• What beliefs do I hold that separate me from others?

• Do my actions reflect my oneness with all things?

• Am I living life as one with the things around me?

What I’m reading:

Want to read more? Here are a few articles I liked this week:

• What is Vagal Tone—And How Can You Improve Stress Resilience? - Yoga International

• A Rusty Wheel and Discernment While Chanting: My Sixth Weekend of Yoga Teacher Training - Yoga Journal

• The Shape of Time: Lessons from a Queer Garden - Orion Magazine

• Artist and Organizer eryn kimura on Seeing Everything as Art - The Creative Independent

My favorite things this week

• My current book: I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine by Daniel J. Levitin

• What I’m jamming to: Fight for Love - SAULT

• Quote of the week: “Oneness alone is love and fearlessness; separation leads us to hatred and fear.” - Swami Vivekananda.

• This week’s intention: I am one.

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links for BookShop.org, so I may receive a small commission if you purchase something.