Teaching, Learning and Practicing Yoga and Buddhism – From Emotional Reactions to Wise Responses
When we are more mindful and mentally calm, two mental states that Yoga and Buddhism promise us we can achieve and maintain through their practice, we undergo a change in our perceptions of ourselves and others.
We start to become more mindful that what may have been our previous or recent way of reacting to others on a very emotional level may not have always been the best thing for both them and us. In fact, we may remember some of our reactions to others over the years and recently with a sense of shame and guilt, realizing that we may have hurt, demeaned or further confused them in some manner through our ignorant and emotional reaction to what they did, or what they shared with us.
We may also see how such a reaction demeaned ourselves and our ability and the opportunity that we had to grow as people and make a stronger and more compassionate connection with others.
We understand others and live a better life individually when we see that our emotions are not the reality of life but just an individual feeling and reaction to those things externally and internally that we are or have been exposed to or conditioned by.
In fact, Yoga and Buddhism are teaching us that to get all caught up in our emotions and live based solely on their fluctuating and sometimes confused nature is a sign of ignorance and will cause problems for both ourselves and others.
They also teach us that what we do as far as our diet and sleep habits, plus how we make use of our leisure time also influences them.
Of course it is the state and functioning of our mind and body that is the prevailing and dominating force and influence in what our emotional state is and it is the postures of Hatha Yoga, meditation and the understanding and the application of the various teachings of these disciplines that makes us less emotional in both our individual life and our interactions and reactions with others.
The change that Yoga and Buddhism bring about starts to make us more mindful and that mindfulness leads to a tendency to respond based on understanding and investigation instead of our own emotions and ego.
Yoga and Buddhism remind us in their various teachings and books written on them that manÂ’s emotions are what over the years and centuries and history of mankind have led to conflicts and wars.
It is manÂ’s emotions that has made him feel that he is somehow superior to other people, people who eat and think, live and suffer, rejoice and cry, and bleed and die just as he does.
They also teach us that it is manÂ’s emotions that have led him to act hastily and in unskillful and unwholesome ways that have led to suffering for himself and others instead of taking the time to sit back, reflect and put aside his own agenda for the common good of others and all mankind.
What Yoga and Buddhism want us to do is be wiser in our responses. They want us to understand that we can respond in a manner that is wise and uplifts ourselves and those we share them with. They want us to experience the growth that we can have when we respond instead of react, a growth that manifests itself both as an individual and with others.
They want us to see that when we respond with wisdom and understanding a connection is and can be made, whereas when we react, a conflict or further confusion is most likely the result.
©2007 John C. Kimbrough