Do you know your mind has over 6K thoughts a day? This can be simple thoughts of history or day
to day tasks. We normally don’t notice
because our mind is so efficient. Our
minds categorize our thoughts so it can help us understand the unknown. There is an old yoga story around this same
concept of our minds and how we think.
Story – The Elephant
and the 5 Blind Men
The blind man feels a leg of an elephant and is asked what
do think this object is? Based on his
knowledge, he believes the unidentified object in front of him is a post. Another bland man feeling only the tip of the
elephant’s tail says this object must be a switch. The story continues as each blind man feels a
part of the elephant and thinks is it something else.
The Moral of the Story
Each blind man saw what they knew from past experience. None were right but, that really doesn’t
matter. What is important is that our
brain thinks the same way as the blind men in the story. We each interpret our life, experiences and
situations based on what we have been exposed to in the past.
In yoga this is reflected in our Samskaras (our impressions
on our subconscious mind). Our Samskaras
are a combination of linked impressions that have been stored to protect us but
have created within us set patterns of behavior that may not serve us today.
Do you have set
patterns of behavior or ways of thinking that don’t bring the results you want?
The best ways to get past these Samskaras is coaching.
Through the coaching process we can discover the basis for the
behaviors/patterns that don’t bring us our desired results. Once we know what they are, we can determine
if they are still useful in some way or something that needs to be replaced
with a better serving pattern.
So why am I sharing
this?
The physical practice of yoga brings to our awareness these
blocks, feelings or Samskaras as our mind and body relaxes. In some cases it can come out of the blue and
make us cry or feel pain where there is no physical pain but a memory within
our cellular level.
If you want to get past these Samskaras, your internal elephant
check out our coaching page or reach out to your next Living Fit with Dawn
instructor for a coaching intake session.