Yogic Musings About Anchors
I ran across this massive, old, beautiful anchor a couple days ago. Its image lingered in my awareness - I could feel its inherent power - so last night I channeled that power, and I practiced. Then, I wrote about anchors.
My inquiry - if consciousness is vast and deep like the ocean, and my embodied experience (spirit carried in the body-mind) is a tiny vessel traveling through this vast ocean of consciousness, what is my anchor? What is its purpose? And, to what is my vessel anchoring?
I can’t, I suppose, anchor to the ocean of consciousness itself, for obvious reasons - it is so vast, fluid, subtle, difficult to grasp, and I’m immersed in it already! I need to be able to move with it, feel it, remain connected to it, yes, but there must be something underneath it - a floor or foundation - something that I can latch into and hold onto.
(Stay with me, ha, go slow…and let’s assume, for the sake of inquiry, that my analogy isn’t shitty, but feel free to reach out and tell me if you think it, indeed, stinks!)
What is the seafloor, then, in this analogy? What is underneath the ocean of consciousness?
Well, it must be something that :
I can anchor into
Holds my boat steady when the seas are rough
Keeps me in one place when I’m lost or tired so that I can pause, get my bearings, consult a map or my navigator, get some nourishment, and replenish my strength
So, I drew a little picture (not a fancy drawing, more like a whimsical doodle)…
stared at it a while…
added some more swirlies…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And, I realized that the teachings of yoga are my sea floor. They are there like a foundation, always within reach. I have to take the time to pull the anchor out and toss it into the water, though. And, I gotta have enough chain to go down deep.
My practice, then, is what anchors me to the teachings. Practice IS the anchor. It holds me steady to the teachings, keeps me still in the ocean and connected to the depths of yogic knowledge. And, that chain is the necessary time spent and connections made to even allow me to be able to reach the teachings.
So, then, working back…
Practice + Knowledge of Yogic Teachings —> Stillness in Consciousness —>
Strength
Nourishment
Guidance
A Sense of Where You Are
So, anchors. You gotta have an anchor, y’all, when you are out at sea. You also have to take the time and make the effort to throw it out, and you need a good patch of seafloor to grab onto!
Maybe for you, something else is your anchor and your seafloor is a little different than mine, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
This analogy also just reminded me of my sweet friend, Ved, whom I met teaching yoga on a rooftop in Varanasi. He told me “The boat (mind/body) moves, becomes unsteady, and we think WE are moving and WE are unsteady! We get worried and stressed because we forget that WE are not the boat!” Then he would get so tickled that he’d chuckle. “YOU are NOT the BOAT!!!” and we would laugh together.
Sometimes, we practice; sometimes we doodle & muse, and sometimes, we just have to laugh about it all.
~sending love from a craggy bluff above the crashing Caribbean waves
