The beautiful rests on the foundations of the necessary
Can wishes be precursors of the necessary? I often feel they are. Wishes are not random desires surfacing on the shores of the mind. They are messages stored in the depths of your soul, delivered to your consciousness from time to time.
When the swirling waves of thoughts settle, with the help of cleansing yogic techniques, the fog clears the trivial to make way for the timeless. When such a thought is held in the crevices of the mind and the folds of the heart, it throbs in your belly and becomes a wish. It comes true when it is nurtured with unfettered soulfulness, dedication and patience. But the human spirit craves not just the fulfillment of its wishes as it knows wishes can be fulfilled with one’s assiduity.
I remember my master told me once, be careful what you wish for as it may come true. A statement that two decades later still resounds in my head as the most loving but firm warning/learning of the awareness needed to deal with the immensity of one’s energy potential. In Indian mythology, the kalpavriksha is a wish-fulfilling tree, a symbolism indicative of the human potential. A potential which burgeons with the possibility of overcoming the huge and small with the same ease, provided steadiness of mind can be maintained. Poise punctuates a steady mind.
Poise is resilience under stress
The world right now is trying to combat a stress wave, individual and collective. This emotion of stress offers us a huge energy potential. The energy can be utilized to boom the boundaries in our brain. Any emotion, good, bad, right or wrong is just raw energy, brimming with a mass of possibilities. It can fuel alchemy instead of fueling conflicts.
If the mind is steady and holds on to its poise, anything is possible. Poise is is not an elusive quality, it is a practice in which the mind steadily learns to dwell and not rush into doing. Once learned from the inside out, it can become the raison d’etre or a way of life. Whatsoever be the external circumstance, with poise, it is met with equilibrium and the equanimity of mind and body. A state of internal stability, Homeostasis is a term formulated by Walter Cannon, best described as a state of internal stability. In this state, problems are stepping stones to solutions.
The practice of poise puts us in touch with our inner thermostat that quickly recalibrates, no matter what comes at us from the outside. And much will come, we know that. Homeostasis is a mechanism of alchemy, that naturally rests within us. A constant that changes adroitly, triggering the brain to form new pathways and keep wellbeing intact.
Wellbeing, defined as 'the experience of health, happiness and prosperity, good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of purpose, and the ability to manage stress', is a necessity of life. Once the necessities are in place, a human being can be ready for the beautiful and sublime.
Your role is simply to relax and allow nature to take its healing course
Yoga teaches the system to be exquisitely poised even when a threat is perceived, and allow for a coordinated response to overcome the stress. A robust yoga practice keeps us in a state of hormonal readiness (epinephrine is the stress-busting hormone) to re-establish homeostasis at a higher setpoint, called allostasis. This is a dynamic regulatory control, built into your system to work at the cellular level, with two of its best allies, the endocrine and nervous system. As soon as a disruption occurs, corrective action is activated to restore the lost homeostatic balance. A yoga practice is a daily remembrance of the essential and recognition of the non-essential.
Various perspectives on homeostasis
Historical perspective: true stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are in balance; a truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed.
Physiological perspective: it is the tendency of a system to maintain internal stability, owing to the coordinated response of its parts to any situation or stimulus that would tend to disturb its normal condition or function.
Psychological perspective: a state of psychological equilibrium obtained when tension or a drive has been reduced or eliminated.
Entomological perspective: the ability of members of a colony of social insects to behave cooperatively to produce a desired result, such as when bees coordinate the fanning of their wings to cool the hive.
Per the dictionary, homeostasis is derived from two ancient Greek terms, that translate to 'together standing still', which in a single word is union or yuj, the Sanskrit root word for yoga. And to me it literally means that we are resurrecting oneness.
The alchemy of consciousness in homeostasis
There are various physiological processes that work in unison, to keep internal states steady and balanced. These processes take place mostly without our conscious awareness. Yoga can make it a conscious integration between response and stimuli; a merging of the internal and external.
The practice of yoga is significant in its amazing ability to connect us with our body’s mind-blowing resilience to deal with stress and challenges, without losing equilibrium. Higher states of homeostasis can thus be activated by awakening the body’s dormant defense systems.
Yoga introduces ease. The practice of yoga trains the brain to accept the unknown and even anticipate it with thrill and curiosity. The brain is reconditioned to look at the stressors as an opportunity to trigger resourcefulness. Diving into challenge leads one into the flow state instead of the freeze state. That is homeostatic resilience. We radiate more happiness, thus generating more positive emotions within and without.
A recipe of happiness for all...
