Yoga and the Art of Balancing

The Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom -- what better symbol to remind us humans that we have to do a better job of balancing our consumption with more respect for all of life on the planet. If we don't, we are doomed.

Balancing is so important in the practice of yoga. And it’s not just about being able to balance on one leg, or on your arms or head. It’s more about balancing your energies and your expectations. By doing so, you will experience more joy and ease in your life.

Every May for more years than I can remember now, I share one particular quote from the Bhagavad Gita in my yoga classes. In chapter 2, Krishna says to Arjuna:

You have control over actions alone, 
never over its fruits.  
Live not for the fruits of action, 
nor attach yourself to inaction.  
Established in Yoga, O Arjuna, perform actions 
having abandoned attachment 
and having become balanced in success and failure, 
for balance of mind is called Yoga.

As a creative person who aspires to do my part in helping to create a better world – whether it’s through my yoga teaching, or the nonprofit I founded, Keoni Movement Arts, or my work as a performing artist – often I find myself working in the space of the unknown. While it can be scary, it can be exhilarating when all the elements seem to come together at the right time to create something praise-worthy and beautiful. I remember going on countless musical theatre auditions in the early aughts of the 2000s, never of course knowing whether I was going to book the job. This quote helped me immensely, as it gave me the mindset: just go in and show them what you got, then walk out and let it go. And in the beginning, when I was starting Keoni Movement Arts, I really didn’t know what I was doing, so I just did what I thought I had to do. And fortunately, 13 years later after many failures and successes, enough answers have been revealed to me that the organization is viable and its work is being recognized as important for our community. And lastly, I’ve been writing these yoga blogs for more years than I can remember now, and I never know if the messages will be of use to anyone. Then I’ll run into a former yoga student who thanks me for writing these emails and letting me know how much the messages have resonated with them and helped them in their lives. (Thanks, Andy P.!) Throughout it all, I’ve tried to listen to that inner voice that says to me: You must do this! And at the same time, this yoga philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita has helped put my actions into perspective and kept me in balance. Actions alone are not going to bring results – there has to be some Divine intervention at play too. But since my actions are the only thing I can control, that’s all I have to be concerned with. And when I include the ingredient of “Faith in Something Bigger than My self”, it allows me to relax and feel calm.

Pema Chödrön has also helped me to stay balanced through her many teachings. This one, called Room for Not Knowing, has helped me to retain my equanimity in those moments when my mind has become fixated on outcomes:

When we think that something is going to bring us pleasure, we don’t know what’s really going to happen. When we think something is going to give us misery, we don’t know. Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. We try to do what we think is going to help. But we don’t know. We never know if we’re going to fall flat or sit up tall. When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may be just the beginning of a great adventure.  

Letting there be room for not knowing is like the secret ingredient that should be included in all our recipes for success. It’s the one ingredient that can help keep our mind balanced and strengthen our connection to the Divine. In my life, I have found on quite a few occasions that when something happened that didn’t go the way I was hoping it would, it was only later that I became glad things worked out that way because a better outcome eventually was in store. I am sure your life has been full of many such occurrences. The stream of life has many unexpected twists and turns, and practicing yoga and meditation regularly can help us pull out more to try to see the stream from the 30,000-foot level so our minds don’t get entangled in each twist and turn and become unbalanced.

The Yoga Sutras also teach us an important lesson about balancing our energies. SwamiJ.com offers this translation of Sutra 2.46 – sthira sukham asanam:

The posture (asana) for Yoga meditation should be steady, stable, and motionless, as well as comfortable, and this is the third of the eight rungs of Yoga.

• sthira = steady, stable, motionless

• sukham = comfortable, ease filled

• asanam = meditation posture (from the root ~as, which means "to sit")

While this specifically is referring to seated meditation posture, we can extrapolate its meaning to any posture/position we find ourselves in, whether it’s on our yoga mat or off. If we don’t balance comfort with steadiness, we will find our mind and body losing its balance and our ability to see clearly diminished. When you feel yourself losing your sense of balance in life, try seeing if you can maneuver your position so that you can feel more stable and comfortable.  

I hope that your ongoing yoga and meditation practice can help you off the mat in every posture life will throw at you. May you be as steady and comfortable in each life situation as you can possibly be.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you balance success and failure, … 
May you leave room for not knowing, …
May you balance not knowing with knowing and stay balanced doing so, … 
May you balance steadiness and comfort in every posture in your life, … 
May your life have meaning, … 
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere.

Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun