After my last blog post about yoga sutra 1.33, The Four Keys, I had a long discussion with my mom about the word “indifference”. In the context of sutra 1.33, Patanjali says that to maintain a calm mind, you must show “indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice respectively…” B.K.S. Iyengar explains this idea further, “This sutra asks us to… be indifferent to those who continue to live in vice despite attempts to change them.”

What was tripping my mom up (and I suspect many of us may feel similarly) is that the word indifference connotes uncaring. Like you just shrug your shoulders and move on despite the hurtful actions of others or a traumatic experience.

The other day a friend showed me a post on social media from someone in our community. It was asking for signatures on a petition for something that she felt should be changed pertaining to one of her children’s travel sports teams. My friend wanted me to read the comment section because, as she said, “It’s a train wreck.”

I read only a few comments before getting so upset that I had to close out of the application. We’ve all seen comment sections like these. People emboldened, for whatever reason, to be cruel to people who do not share their opinions. I closed the application, but I thought about these comments all day. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. How could people in my own community be so mean to a neighbor because they have a different belief system? In these moments, when my mind is full anger, sadness, and fantasies about what I am going to comment or say to people - that’s when my yoga practice becomes my lifeline.

Over the years I have consistently turned to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 1.33 when I become upset at another person or person’s actions. Often referred to as The Four Keys, sutra 1.33 teaches that in order to preserve a calm mind and open heart we should practice the following attitudes:

Kindness to those who are happy.

Compassion for those who are less fortunate.

Friendliness for those who embody noble qualities.

Indifference to those whose actions oppose your values.

My son is leaving for college next month. These past few weeks I have been slowly getting him ready to pack his things, but every time that I look in his closet I’m overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that has accumulated over the past 18 years. Games, posters, baseball cards, clothes that don’t fit, and more. Cleaning out this closet is a daunting task and one that I was not looking forward to. Mainly because of the waves of nostalgia that I get each time I find things like an old blanket he used as a toddler. Or his middle school yearbook, a halloween costume, or a book I read to him when he was small. I suppose my feelings are cliche for a reason - how did he grow up so fast?

I procrastinate cleaning his closet because it means that our family is changing. He is really leaving. It’s time for him to shed his childhood skin and become a college student. He’s ready for it. He’s excited and I’m excited for him. But as he makes this transition, I am going to miss that little boy.

“The opposite of play is not work - the opposite of play is depression. Respecting our biologically programmed need for play can transform work. It can bring back excitement and newness to our job. Play helps us deal with difficulties, provides a sense of expansiveness, promotes mastery of our craft, and is an essential part of the creative process. Most important, true play that comes from our own inner needs and desires is the only path to finding lasting joy and satisfaction in our work. In the long run, work does not work without play.”

Dr. Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“Creativity is not a rare ability. It is not difficult to access. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human. It’s our birth right. And it’s for all of us.”Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

I believe that all of us know that rest is integral to a healthy lifestyle, but most of us struggle to make rest a priority in our daily lives. We have careers, kids, partners, homes and many other responsibilities that demand our time and attention.

I also believe there is confusion about rest in general. What is rest? Is it getting a good night’s sleep? Research shows that rest and sleep are two different things. So if rest isn’t sleep - what is it?

"Beginner's Mind" is a Buddhist practice that encourages approaching activities and situations in our daily lives with an open, curious and non-judgemental mind, allowing us to more fully appreciate the present moment.

I love this quote by Rachel Carson:

“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.”

A few years ago I heard a segment on NPR about the liminal space. The liminal space is time we experience during transition. Like the first few months of a new job or bringing home a new baby or pet. It’s that space in time when you’re uncertain and unfamiliar because there has been a change in your daily life. Most of us despise the liminal space. We want to move through our lives with certainty, familiarity, and comfort. This particular segment was about how people should practice being comfortable in the liminal space. I remember thinking that this was the most yogic thing I’d ever heard on NPR.