Yoga and the Power of the Infinite

I happened upon this cat catching the early morning sun on the grass at the Waikīkī Yacht Club in Honolulu. I tried to get its attention but it paid me no mind. It looked so relaxed and seemed to be resting its attention on the Infinite. 

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I receive a weekly email from the renowned yoga master Sri Dharma Mittra with insights on how to master your mind, body, and life through yoga practices. Recently, one popped into my inbox that stayed stuck in my head. Here is what Dharma Mittra’s instructed:

Rest your mind on the Infinite, then that becomes realization.

I’m not sure why this lingered with me and resonated in a deeper way. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been feeling so much deep sadness lately about all the evil acts that are taking place in the world. So much doesn’t feel normal right now and it’s hard to make sense of it all. 

But the key realization that’s come to me is that what is happening now is all finite. That realization – really that re-remembering of something I’d forgotten along the way – was the starting point to me feeling some liberation.

I did a little more digging into the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and discovered one lesson that I wasn’t previously aware of. As translated by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati (a.k.a Swami J), Chapter 2, Verse 27 reads:

prayatna shaithilya ananta samapattibhyam
The means of perfecting the posture is that of relaxing or loosening of effort, and allowing attention to merge with endlessness, or the infinite.

Two means of perfecting meditation posture: Steady and comfortable posture comes through two means:

1. Loosening of tension or effort to sit in the posture

2. Allowing attention to merge with the infinite

Specifically, this guidance is to be applied to perfecting seated meditation posture – the original yoga posture. The reason we practice all the other yoga postures is to perfect our ability to be sit in meditation posture for longer periods of time. And the longer we can sit in meditation, the closer we may come to Self-Realization.

In his commentary on this sutra, Swami J writes:

Focusing on the infinite: To focus on the infinite simply close your eyes, sit as comfortably and erect as you can, and allow your attention to expand. Attention likes to wrap itself around an object. Allow that object to be the whole of infinity. The mind will not be able to do it, but the effort to do so will easily be seen to bring a stability in the sitting posture. With a bit of experimentation, you can feel the effects of this yourself.

So, I experimented with this instruction as I was doing my regular meditation practice. First, I tried to relax something in my posture. Then, once I felt comfortable, I closed my eyes and placed my attention higher up around my eyebrows and forehead where I perceive my mind to reside. I have practiced meditation for 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week for a number of years now – it’s been so long I can’t remember when I began. I’ve used a few different techniques over the years. With this particular technique, I have to say that while I still noticed thoughts coming into my awareness, they seemed to leave more quickly and easily as my mind took small steps in the direction of merging with the infinite. These certainly felt like baby steps in the right direction. 

Then I experimented and took this teaching one step further into practicing other yoga postures beyond seated meditation. (I know – I took a few liberties with this sutra.) Recently, I was in a yoga class and the teacher guided us into a challenging posture. In that moment, I thought what if I just relaxed something? What if I didn’t try so hard? Well, the effect that was that I felt more ease and stability in the posture and it became easier to try to rest my mind on something bigger – the infinite. I discovered that by not exerting maximum effort in the yoga posture, I was able to find more balance – not only physically, but mentally as well. Having that sense of lightness and ease – as opposed to struggle and tension – allowed my mind to merge ever so slightly with something bigger than just my small self.

Because our yoga practice on the mat or cushion is such a metaphor for life in general, the realization I’ve been having is that in the “yoga postures of life” it can be beneficial for us to find ways to loosen the tension or effort when we find ourselves pushing up against challenging life situations. Then, once we regain a sense of balance in our body and mind, we can slowly begin to see that there exists something far more infinite than the finite and ephemeral situations we are currently finding ourselves in. By relaxing a bit to life as it is being presented to us in any moment – whether it be in a yoga asana or the “posture” of our current circumstances – it will be easier to rest our mind on the infinite and get out from the prison of our current cognitive muck.

This verse from the Chandogya Upanishad reminds us that Joy and the Infinite are intertwined:

Where there is creation there is progress. Where there is no creation there is no progress: know the nature of creation.

Where there is joy there is creation. Where there is no joy there is no creation: know the nature of joy.

Where there is the Infinite there is joy. There is no joy in the finite.

Here’s what came to me upon reflecting on this teaching: Progress indicates that creation is present. Creation indicates that joy is present. Joy indicates that realization of the Infinite is present. Realization lies in recognizing the limitations inherent in the finite. Practically speaking, this lesson invites us to live for Joy. And equally as important it suggests to us that we always try to recognize the limitations of the finite – the material things and tactical pleasures that we believe will last but that in reality are ephemeral.

The English Poet William Blake said:

If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.

As yoga practitioners, this serves to remind us that we practice yoga to clean the lens of our clouded perception of reality so that ultimately, we can realize the infinite possibilities available to us through our further Self-Realization. It will also remind us to try to see more clearly the reality that exists beyond the false illusions and promises of the material and tactical pleasures.

I know many of us are feeling somewhat stuck as we witness the current events that are throwing our world into tumult and upheaval. But I think as yoga practitioners, the key instruction might just be to relax just a bit to the way things are right now and focus on the infinite. All the Sturm und Drang of life as it is unfolding right now is really of the finite world. This is an open invitation to focus on the infinite and joyful possibilities that await us. Consider this as you meet these current realities with what I suggest should be a calculated and strategic kind of resistance. Perfect your “positions” through some softening of your “posture” and allowing your attention to merge with something far greater than the ephemeral tumult of our times.

As yogis, remain awake to your Higher Nature.

More personally, I hope that whatever you are struggling with right now that perhaps in loosening some tension around it and allowing your attention to wrap around something bigger – something more than finite – that this will help bring you some stability and ease so you can do your most important life work. I continue to bow down to your best efforts.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you loosen some tension in and around you, …
May you place your mind on the infinite, …
May whatever new realizations come to you somehow serve All Beings Everywhere.

Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

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Images from this past month that inspired

These sights in August convinced me that there is something far beyond the finite and that the infinite is actually rather close at hand.

View from Ala Moana Beach Park in Honolulu. When I was a little boy growing up in Honolulu, I would stare out at the vast ocean. What lay out there, I wondered. In my little boy mind, it all seemed so infinite.

Another view from Ala Moana brought me back to childhood memories. I would stare up into the sky and wonder what's up there? The sky seemed so infinite, so beyond my little boy comprehension.

Central Park in all its stunning glory on an early August morning recently. Only something far more infinite than me could have created such ephemeral beauty for us New Yorkers to enjoy!

And Belvedere Castle in Central Park earlier this month seemed like a magical place full of infinite possibilities as it was bathed by a beautiful sunset.

View of the Gulf Coast from Pass-A-Grille Beach in St. Petersburg, FL earlier this month. The waters beyond that were once home to these small shells seemed so infinite. I thought how many eons must it have taken for these shells to finally appear on this beach. It's so fun for me to experience moments like this that expand my mind towards the infinite.

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Photo Credits:
Photos from around Florida, NYC and Honolulu all shot by me.