So, I've had a few different discussions this week that have pointed to getting to feeling back to normal. Normal to me is better put in quotes like in the title of this article, because what is normal? It is a relative term, right?
I think so because what is normal for me, is not normal for you or anyone else, nor should it be.
But, the big question is, as we move through this life and if you're practicing yoga, and I'm talking about yoga, not just asana (although asana tends to lead you into a deeper place that makes you take interest in the fuller aspects of yoga if you're open to it) as it's meant to be practiced in the east with the fullness of your being seeking liberation then you are trying to remove the veils, koshas in Sanskrit.
Veils you ask? I never thought of it like this before, even though I've read plenty of scripture that uses this terminology, I don't think we get it until we GET it, have that aha moment. Mine was yesterday.
So the idea is that we are spirit, a bright shining soul that is powerful and glowing with this inner power. As we come to the earth to inhabit a body we are cloaked in veil after veil of heavier and heavier substance until we basically forget we are the soul and identify with only the body and the material things in front of our face. But the Eastern traditions have many spiritual paths that are meant to unveil us so that we realize again that we are this bright, shiny spirit underneath it all. And you know those people who are on that path, they do have a glow and you can feel their energy when they walk into the room and the more veils they've uncloaked themselves from the bigger that energy is.
So as I started the practice of yoga and began to have little aha moments, little realizations towards this end, I thought of it as transforming myself into a new bright and shiny being, but the converse is true I now believe.
I am slowly uncovering the true me and the further and further I unveil the more different I feel and the more different I feel and the more different I feel, and even bigger, the more different those around me respond to me.
So, in a conversation back to normal came up, but I said to myself, what if back to normal is not an option. If as is said, the only constant is change, and we as yogis are meant to be able to adapt to any situation as it comes up and be equanimous in each situation, then aren't we also meant to be okay with whom we are as we unveil our true self? And I mean as we truly are.
Think of a lamp and you've put many cloths over it it create a mood, so its still light in the room even though it's dark outside, but it's darker and even a bit green, red or whatever the color the veils you've put over it are. But you remove one, notice the difference, it's lighter, but still a mood albeit a different mood than before, and then another, and another. The mood slightly shifts as each piece of cloth is taken away. BUT as you remove each piece of cloth the room becomes more the room as it is normally before you put all those veils over it. The light bulb is your true self, your "normal" self, not what you thought was you as you were before you began removing the veils when you started your practice of yoga, or Buddhist meditation, or Kabbalah, or whatever you're doing that's bringing you closer to your true self. So will you ever get back to the "normal" that you originally meant? I hope to hell not, you've taken all this time to work in the direction you are going, so normal will be constantly changing until you unveil the bare light bulb which I don't even know if it's possible while we're in a body to do so, but we can get as close as we can.
So, next time you use that phrase "I can't wait to get back to normal." Think about it, do you really want that? Nah, you want the new normal and the next normal and the constant evolution of what that means at that moment, not what you were way back when. Don't you?
