This phrase, The Yoga of What Is, was coined by a friend of mine. It has to do with not being resistant to what is happening. It’s about acceptance and living in the present moment.
Well today, that seems to be my yoga. This afternoon, after my wife and I agreed to loan $3,000 to a friend of ours, we discovered that our checking account was fraudulently accessed for over $3,000 via my Paypal account. It seems someone bought a really nice Dell notebook computer from someone in Greece on eBay.
My first reaction was a four letter word! If poise is a game we play with the universe, then today I lost. My poise was disturbed. My wife did better than I did. She handled it by calling our bank. I collected myself and contacted Paypal. There seems to be a pretty good electronic trail. Let’s see how quickly they resolve this.
So what is acceptance? It’s not saying, “It’s only $3245. I’ll be OK.” It’s accepting the situation as it unfolds. Then, while living in the present moment, with a clear head, taking the course of action that seems most appropriate, if indeed there is anything that can be done about the situation.
If a hurricane is beating down on the coast of South Carolina, I can’t do anything about the hurricane, but it doesn’t mean that there is not action to be taken. I can board up my house and evacuate.
The Yoga of What Is gives us a chance to take a broader view of what is happening. Questions come up such as “Am I living in the present moment?” or “Am I poised.” The Yoga of What Is reminds us that life is a workshop. We are here to deepen our consciousness.
Life sometimes present challenges to how we cope. Sometime accepting what is signifies a stretch for our ability of acceptance. When life is a challenge, you can look upon it as an opportunity to practice the Yoga of What Is.
How do you do it? By recognizing that what is happening is happening. By accepting the present moment not as good or bad, but as what is.
The bumper sticker that says “Shit Happens” is pointing towards acceptance of the present moment. But it is also labeling some moments as shitty. A better, more accurate description would be “Reality Happens.”
We have two choices. We can be in harmony with what is or we can be in conflict with it. Being in conflict is of no use. The conflict is a demand from the mind, which is living in either the past or the future. The conflict arises because the mind is programmed to what is acceptable based on its desires and aspirations, and what is conducive to the fortification of the ego.
As bad as it seems that someone can be ripped off of over $3,000, I’m sure there are a lot of people who lost loved ones today that would trade their loss with my loss and be happy. So what happened to me today is neither good nor bad. It’s whatever the mind makes it.
The Yoga of What Is therefore teaches us that we are more fortunate than many, many others. So I need to be grateful for this fact. And that act of gratitude puts everything in yet another perspective of abundance.
The issue is not whether the cup is half full or half empty. It’s the fact that it never runs dry. If you wonder how I can say that, it’s simple. My source of being has not been diminished by the temporary loss of $3,000. My source of being is not concerned in the least in what my account balance is. When I leave this physical experience that I call my life, I won’t have a checking account to take along with me.
The concern of consciousness is the source of being. It is found by diving deep into the present moment. That is possible only when we can have acceptance of the present moment. And acceptance is only possible when we have poise. And poise comes from practice. Today I got that practice in what I have described to you as the Yoga of What Is.
