Yoga & Desire: A Brief Discussion
(Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)
Earlier this week I picked up an old journal and found an entry about desire. Actually, the entry was more about my hesitancy to share my thoughts on desire with my yoga students or here on the blog. I felt self conscious because for years, desire has had a bad rap.
In so many traditions, desire is the ultimate evil. And, as I mentioned in earlier posts, for women to feel and talk about desire is absolutely not allowed. But, if you’ve been reading for the last few weeks, you know I don’t agree with that.
And part of why I don’t agree is because I study and practice a type of yoga where desire is celebrated rather than crushed underfoot.
DESIRE AS THE VOICE OF YOUR HEART
So that we’re all on the same page here, let’s go back to what I mean when I’m talking about desire. I’m talking about deep heart-level desires. So it’s not so much about passing desire - like wanting awesome new sneakers so that you can impress your friends. No this is more about desire for feelings like freedom, spaciousness, peace, bliss and connection.
Part of why I use the word DESIRE instead of WANT is to get at that deeper layer of feeling. In my mind, DESIRE connotes a more embodied and heart powered expression than simply wanting something. I want a bowl of ice cream. I desire loving relationships.
When I teach yoga, the emphasis is first and foremost on reconnecting with what my teachers and I call the Heart. Others call it the Self, the Essential Self, the Buddha Nature, Oneness, Life Force Energy, Universal Consciousness...It... Whatever. And so, yoga that is pointing you back to the Heart, can use the longings of the Heart as a kind of roadmap. Follow them backwards and you’ll eventually enter the Heart space.
That may sound kind of vague but it’s as simple as feeling the Desire, and instead of pushing it away acknowledging that this is the way that your Heart is calling out to you. Then listening even more deeply until all that is left is Heart. (again, vague. But try it in meditation sometime and see what happens).
TANTRA YOGA AND DESIRE
I teach yoga from this perspective based on what I’ve learned as I’ve studied Non-Dual Shaiva Tantra (NST) over the past 13 years. NST is one of many different schools or viewpoints on the practice and philosophy of yoga. There are many ways that it will agree with other views, and there are some where it will differ.
In NST, the first perspective that is important when it comes to desire is the Non-Dual part. Non-Dual means it’s NOT TWO. The simplest way I’ve heard this explained is that Creator (Heart) and Creation are not separate. Creator is in the Creation (as the creation). This comes from my teacher, Bill Mahony.
In some schools of yogic thought there is a separation - there is Creator and there is Creation, Spirit and Matter - and those two do not touch or overlap. In NST they cannot ever be separated. So even though we think that we are separate from each other and from Heart, that is only because we’ve forgotten who we really are. It is a distinction that is important in just a moment.
DESIRE IS a superpower (really!)
Also in NST the Heart/Self/Consciousness is described as having particular inherent powers (shaktis). One of the very first ones on the list is: Iccha Shakti. Iccha connotes the power of will, intention, or, guess what, - desire. The Creator naturally has the power of Desire.
NST goes further to say that the only reason any creation exists at all is because Creator desired it to be created.
So go back to the first point, Creator and Creation are not separate. Consciousness contracts to become form but as it does so, it doesn’t lose any bit of it’s power. For us, that means we each contain the same powers that creator holds only in contracted form. We have desire, and it is, literally, a super power.
TURN TOWARDS DESIRE
In NST the quest is not to turn away from desire as it is in many other systems. But to turn towards it. We make that turn because your desire is your roadmap back into expansion. It is the guidebook that you read in order to remember who you are at the deepest level.
This is the path of yoga - returning to the state of union with the Heart.
CAVEATS
I am a student of Non-Dual Shaiva Tantra and my yoga asana practices (and coaching practice) draw on what I learn through this inquiry. I am not a scholar. I share what I’ve heard, which may not be the same thing the teacher offered.
If you are interested in learning more directly from scholars, I always recommend:
Bill Mahony - www.wkmahony.com
Constantina Rhodes - www.constantinarhodes.com
Douglas Brooks - www.rajanaka.com
Sally Kemption - www.sallykempton.com