(aparigraha) sanskrit

(non-clinging): english

Why did Evolution choose aparigrapha this month?

It’s December! A new year is on the horizon, calling us to clear and cleanse for fresh beginnings. What can we leave behind in 2008 to blossom in 2009?

Aparigraha is non-attachment, non-possesiveness.

All things things change. Even in the stillness of a yoga posture, energy is in constant flux. Hanging on too tightly to possessions, people or ideas can cause us to get stuck.

Aparigaha is the 5th Yama described by Patanjali. When we enter this world, we have nothing. When we leave, we take nothing. Everything we experience along the way is temporary. Time brings all things. Time takes all things away.

Aparigraha calls the practitioner to examine what he or she holds onto. To dwell in the space within the self that expects nothing, labels nothing, has no attachments to results. This is bliss. This is freedom. This is true nature.

Yoga accesses this place within the self.

What are you scared to lose?

What do you hang on to?

What attitudes do you hold about yourself? Your family? The people and places in your life?

To answer these questions requires acknowledging long held beliefs, which we are attached to.

How can I let go?

• One breath at a time. Practice clearing out as you exhale and vizualize filing with emptiness on each inhale. Picture an empty still mind, a clear and open heart, a relaxed and open body. This will have a dramatic effect on your outlook and ease your capability to let go.
• Practice uttanasana, folding forward bend and let yourself go.
• Give away money or give some of your free time instead.
• Clean out your closets and your pantries, donate what you don’t need to people who do, get rid of junk (recycle everything possible).

Someone might ask: If I practice aparigrapha fully and do not cling to anything, what will I have left?

When I accept living without something and trust in the abundance of the universe, I find I am more than provided for but like anything, aparigrapha requires balance.

Wisdom from a father of two comes to mind, who I met in Delhi: “Take with one hand, give with your other,” he said. “This is balance.”

If you asked Mother Theresa if she felt a sense of nothingness after giving so much away, I believe she would smile and call herself rich beyond compare.

When it comes to feeling tense or tight this month, practice aparigraha and LET IT GO.