Darn good question.

I’d love to answer it by a long-winded epistle. (You’ll all learn soon enough that I’m entirely too verbose for my own good :-) So sorry! :-) But lucky for all of you, I’m in a hurry today.

So I’ll just toss in two points that I find crucial, and let others fill in the huge gaps I create:

As a Sanga, (the community of those who study & practice the Kripalu art of living,) I think our Dharma (duty) has to start with two prime points: Yoga & Teaching.

(Yeah, no sh**t. I really had to think a long time to spout THAT out :-)

Ok, so what does that lofty sentence mean in my mind:



Striving towards Yoga is the search for Oneness; in other words peace, harmony, serenity, balance, self-understanding and self-acceptance.

But this in and of itself involves several dimensions:

1) In the personal domain, Yoga for me means exploring the aspects of this creature that labels himself Patrick, reconciling contradictions and helping the various sub-constructs of the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and cultural self dance together as one.

2) In the immediate social domain, Yoga means working to create a field of serenity, with opportunities for satisfaction and felicity, within the circle of my friends, family, and co-workers. This means being clear & truthful about my needs and boundaries. This also means being strong & firm yet un-aggressive in face of conflict. And this means being tolerant of those who have not made the wilful commitment to Yoga that we here have made.

3) In the larger social sense, Yoga means finding a harmonious and equitable social contract with the fellow citizens of my city, country, and world. It means working towards creating understanding. It means being a good citizen. It means cleaning up my own litter, being an example about it, making sure there are thrash cans available in my town, and yet not creating blame or ostracism towards litterbugs, but somehow inviting them into the fold… to give a practical example.



As a Sanga, I see the upper two social dimensions as within our immediate grasp. We learn Oneness when we practice it among ourselves, a special social sub-group that has agreed that this is the end we strive towards. You are practicing oneness with me right now, on one dimension.

We also touch the Teaching aspect of our collective Dharma when we support each-other, share insights with each-other, teach hatha classes and give others the tools we’ve found useful to strive towards Yoga on and off the mat. I’m doing it, and so can you just by hitting the “reply” button.

Again, as a Sanga, and as human, therefore social, creatures, we strengthen each-other’s personal practice when we practice together, be that by doing hatha as a group, chanting together (one of my favourite means of affirmation,) or simply witnessing each-other’s statements, feelings, breakthroughs and growth.



I feel there’s a lot more to develop here on the level of the lofty definitions & mission statements, and an infinity more to thrash out in terms of specific actions that need doing. For instance, what is our duty with regards to perpetuating and passing on the Kripalu core values, teachings, and movement? What are our limits in terms of staying true to our history, yet allowing for new blood, new ideas, and new directions? Some of us were initiated as Disciples in the time of the Guru-Disciple model, others chose to remain simple Students, and yet other have never had the opportunity to choose; what does that mean about commitment to the Sanga today? KYTA is a key and thriving institution for teaching yoga on the mat; are we focusing enough on teaching the Kripalu technology of yoga off the mat?



(I hear you say “Geese!, I though this guy said he was in a hurry and would cut this short.” The bad news for all of you is: I did. :-)

Jai Bhagwan, brothers and sisters!
Patrick

Disclaimer: The opinions and life-experiences of the author are his own, and in no way bind or limit the opinions of the Kripalu Sanga, Swami Kripalu, or the Kripalu Foundation. Shiva laughs at the author’s opinions on a daily basis.