Minimalism: A detachment theorist’s viewpoints | Learning to Fly with Tangled Wings

bound by attachment

Rope & Yoga

what's the tie?

For many, rope bondage is associated with control, power, & surrender, while yoga is about peace, harmony, & zenness. At first glance, they appear to be very different, if not completely opposite. However, if we take a deeper look, they seem to have more in common than perhaps initially perceived.

A primary goal of the yogi is to remove themselves from the habitual cycle of cause & effect. We use consumption as a distraction, even when well-intentioned. We often fall biased to “repeat pleasure, avoid pain”. Ultimately, this fear-based self-preservation technique as offered by the ego mind serves to increase our chances of survival so that we remember situations & their associated outcomes & consequences. We remember so that we can learn & grow from past experiences. However, when the context of this often subconscious filtration method is not questioned by our intelligent mind & distracts or removes us from the present moment, it can easily & persuasively dominate, resulting in the repetition of our same old choices, sensations, emotions, thoughts, & experiences. In yoga, this habitual energy is collectively referred to as our samskaras.

Problems arise when memories, desires, experiences, attachments, & prejudices as interpreted from the sensory input of the ego mind imprint themselves & cloud the judgment of the intelligent mind through the repeated habit of learned behavior, whether consciously or not, via facilitated pathways or samskaras. Too often, we experience emotional pain as a response to visual or sensory stimuli & those attachments cause us pain through the negative associations we possess & attribute to them. This is why conscious awareness is so important.

Through my practice, I hope to become aware of the relationship & dynamic of power & control to achieve spiritual freedom & harmony. I hope to become truly present by allowing my intuition to guide me with the scrutinous intelligence of discernment as it relates to the context of the present situation. I hope to stop being controlled by my subconscious thoughts, fears & resentments, outdated or irrelevant attachments & surrender the inappropriate guidance that has festered through time & memory & now clouds my awareness & unnecessarily caps my growth towards emancipation.

That, to me, is what it means to be truly “free”. Only by recognizing the ties that unnecessarily bind us can we emancipate ourselves from them. By becoming aware of their presence & influence on our choices & with that, related consequences, we become aware of their effect in & on our lives. With conscious awareness, we are blessed with the opportunity to judiciously include or exclude their input as it relates to the present moment. An option that, without awareness, would not have even been presented as a choice. Through this awareness, we release ourselves from the control of forces previously unfamiliar to our conscious mind.

Internal peace & freedom – that’s the tie between rope & yoga. That is what I hope to achieve. The purpose of my practice is to explore the relationship between what is tangible & what is not. To connect with & beautifully surrender to all that is & will be, in peaceful harmony with & as part of, creation, what is created, & the unknown source energy of creation. What I believe to be: Nature.

where analytical meets mystical

Travel. Yoga. Kink. Minimalism.