eros: "desire"
Yoga, derived from the sanskrit word “yuj”, means “to yoke or bind”. Through it’s cleansing process, we gain an understanding of the tangible, physical body in order to access & provide clarity to the non-tangible mind & spirit through energetic awareness & clarity of our thoughts, emotions, & attachments.
Yoga & healthy sex both strive toward unity & connection. At first glance, any desire appears to be dualistic in nature, in that we want something other than ourselves (that which we are not united with). Yet, when we look closely, it becomes a good deal less simple than that.
As Mike Lousada & Louise Mazanti state in their book, Real Sex:
“Fundamentally, all spiritual traditions say that God (the divine, or whatever form the tradition believes to exist) created the universe in order to feel itself because by being at one with everything, the divine could not experience itself. The nature of the universe, say the spiritual traditions, is that it’s constantly striving to know its true nature, which is its sense with oneness with all that is. That is the universal cycle, the rotation between separation & unity. We, too, long for the otherness in order to feel connection with it, to experience the return to oneness.“
Many practices advise that we release any & all desire. That can sometimes feel like someone is telling us “just stop being stressed” – helpful. I’ll just do that.
In this practice, we invite you to feel desire, all of your desire, but thoughtfully distinguish the object from the energy of the desire. In allowing ourselves to fully embrace the energy of our desires, we free ourselves from repression & instead invite truth. As we have seen, at the root of all desire is our return to oneness.