INTENTION: Every day I practice letting go, I grow.
This month I have been introducing different ways to discover “freedom from” through your yoga practice.
There is a famous anecdote about how to catch a monkey in India. You drop a banana into a container with a small opening. The monkey puts his hand into the container, grabs the food, and then finds that he cannot get his fist out through the opening. The monkey could escape if he just let go of the banana. But he won’t let go. As long as the monkey maintains his grip on the banana, he is a prisoner of his own making. The trap works because the monkey’s desire is the master of his reach.
The lesson for us is profound. We must always ask ourselves, what is our “banana” (i.e., desire, worry, fear, anxiety, pain, addiction, status, income, etc.), and what keeps us from opening our grip and letting it go?
According to yoga, attachment leads to suffering. Letting go leads to freedom. In this way, attachment is the opposite of contentment, one of a yogi’s most valued goals. Attachment distracts us from our spiritual journey. It is an obstacle. Patanjali spoke of it in the Yoga Sutra: “The obstacles that cause man’s sufferings are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and the desire to cling to life.” (Yoga Sutra II:3)
Suffering is the stress we create from thoughts, habits, and old beliefs that we, for whatever reason, feel we cannot release. We attach to our lifestyle, our ideas, opinions, coffee, sugar, toxic relationships, and subtler addictions like worry, resentment, judgment, and criticism. Attachment is based on fear and insecurity. When we forget our true Self – which is pure consciousness, pure potentiality – we begin to believe that we need something outside of ourselves to make us happy and whole.
Attachment can make us stray from the spiritual path. The Bhagavad Gita warns us of its dangers: “When a man dwells on objects, he feels an attachment for them. Attachment gives rise to desire, and desire breeds anger. From anger comes delusion; from delusion, the failure of memory; from the failure of memory, the ruin of discrimination; and from the ruin of discrimination the man perishes.” (Bhagavad Gita, 2:62-63)
It is easy to become attached to an object outside ourselves. If we lose that thing, we feel distressed. We miss it and consider replacing it—or suffer more when we believe it is irreplaceable.
Subtle attachments can be a bigger problem. Examples would include opinions, ideas, and preferences. These attachments can be especially distressing. It is human nature to believe “I am right.” When we insist on pressing our opinions on others, we create inner (and outer) discord. Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh says it clearly, “Attachment to views is the greatest impediment to the spiritual path.”
Buddhist teachings and advice from psychologists worldwide teach that we create our suffering through the desire to control outcomes and people. But if we learn and apply the art of letting go in our lives, we can free ourselves from this suffering and find peace and happiness.
Nonattachment is the process of letting go. When we practice nonattachment, we let go of the outcome and focus on the present moment instead. We craft an understanding of what we can and cannot control and disconnect from the latter. Nonattachment is taking a step back so that we may then move forward.
Nonattachment is related to mental and physical benefits, such as:
Reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress
Increased empathy, kindness, wisdom, and self-actualization
Greater levels of understanding from different perspectives, generosity, relational harmony, and compassion
Increased mental well-being
Increased clarity of mind, a better mood
More mental space for the things you can control (as opposed to the things you cannot)
Decreased fear of the loss of control, and less fear of change
Ultimately, just as the monkey needs to let go of the banana to have his freedom, we need to let go of those things to which we are attached or that no longer serve us. Gripping, grasping, and holding tightly only adds additional stress and keeps us stuck. Learn and practice releasing your hands and your mental grip and allow your hands, head, and heart to soften and open, preparing them to receive love through letting go. Then we can experience freedom from our attachments and be open to the sacred beauty of true freedom and unconditional love.
Love & light,
Jeanne and John