By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
When I was a teenager, I often complained that this didn’t seem to be a free country. If I was free, I should be able to go where I wanted, when I wanted, and do and say what I wanted.
My mother, who carefully controlled all of those things, responded that was not the meaning of freedom. I knew that I didn’t understand her or what I had learned in school about freedom in America.
Then I lived in Madrid during the time the Spaniards regained their freedom. I had gone to Madrid to help with the opening of a yoga center, and was living and working with Madrileños. I particularly loved my daily commute by bus, surrounded by chatter in a language I could partly understand, driving through beautiful plazas with huge, incredible fountains.
They were preparing for their first election in 40 years, and every day there were huge political rallies that lasted until the madrugada, the wee hours of the morning. In addition to the political fervor that I recognized from elections in the USA, there was an added element of infectious joy. They were so incredibly happy to regain the right to vote.
I began to question my idea of freedom. From the many years of schooling in American history to the many years of training in yoga philosophy was a big leap, yet they both spoke so movingly of freedom. I knew that I still didn’t understand freedom. Only with two more decades of yoga practice am I beginning to get it.
The goal in yoga is an ultimate state, described in many different terms, the most important of which is “freedom.” You get a taste of yoga’s freedom in every yoga class. It might happen to you after Seated Side Stretch, when your opening is more than merely physical. Maybe you love Jathara Parivrttanasana (Rotated Stomach Pose) because it seduces you into an irresistible inner depth.
It could happen in a backbend, when the pose stops being such a struggle and you feel like you could lift off and fly. Or maybe one of those seated forward bends makes you melt into something bigger than the universe.
One of the most reliable places to find it is in Shavasana, especially the closing Shavasana at the end of class. The whole class is a warm-up for the final Shavasana, so you can experience the freedom at the deepest level of your own existence. Mukti — freedom.
The practices of yoga provide immediate results, which is very important in our hurry-up-must-get-it-now lifestyle. Even your first class makes you feel better than you imagined possible. In the beginning, it appears that the purpose of the class is to fix your body. Familiar pains disappear or are profoundly diminished, and you enjoy a new feeling of profound relaxation and ease.
Most amazingly, you feel both relaxed and energized at the same time — a rare combination! The freedom of comfort and ease in your body is a great freedom, but yoga’s promise doesn’t end with this first blush of success.
In addition to this feeling in your body, you experience an inner feeling of peace, from the very first class. You feel undeniably calmer on the inside. In the same way that the physical benefits develop further as you continue, this inner sense of peace develops progressively into stithi, an inner stability that supports you in all places and times. This yoga-feeling is inside you, supporting you wherever you go.
— Excerpt from Yoga Inside & Outside, pages 93‒94
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