We have a student who comes to us intermittently. He is an artist, and a yoga teacher, and has a loving free spirit. After working through some strains and sprains, aches and pains, he asked us if his practice would always be this difficult. He was referring to the many struggles he was having with discomfort in his body: "Isn't yoga supposed to be all about bliss?" he asked. Physical suffering can be hard on us psychologically, and our motivation to keep up with the practice can decrease.
It is a great question though, "Isn't yoga supposed to be all about bliss?" I guess the simple answer is NO! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out however. We need only to observe the nature and the truth of our existence. Pain comes, and pain goes. Pleasure comes, and pleasure goes. There is an arising and a passing away. Yoga is the ability to keep our mind steady during the rise and fall, the ebb and flow of life, and the successfulness our practice shows up in our ability to deal with the changes, great and small, that manifest within us and around us in every moment.
The most difficult form of satya, or truthfulness, starts with our own self. One good question to ask of ourselves is this: "Am I being serious or sincere?"
Our teacher Tiwariji encourages us to be sincere, as seriousness is an expression of the ego. When I get "serious" about my practice, I push too hard, I tend to move out of a balanced state and into an ego-driven state, and I increase the potential for injury. Yoga practice is difficult enough, without creating more obstacles with our ego. Finding the balance beyond pain and pleasure, and creating steadiness of mind and body to help us move beyond the dualities of existence, is an essential part of our quest. Searching for "bliss" results in a constant disappointment. To crave bliss is really a craving for misery, as all sensations, pleasant or painful, are conditioned by our temporal existence, and so are always impermanent and changing.
I am reminded of what my friend David Swenson says, "If at first you find this practice hard, don't worry, it gets easier! And if at first you find this practice easy, don't worry, it gets harder!" In my opinion, David is one of the great Ashtanga Yogis of our day, and what he said pretty much sums it up: Sometimes practice is hard, sometimes it is easy. What is important is not to crave the easy, energetic, light, enjoyable practices, as this is a recipe for disappointment, but we must strive to keep our equanimity during both the pleasant practices, as well as the difficult ones.
