Now

Atha yoganushasanam is the first of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.  It means something like, “Now begins the instruction of yoga.”  Swami Venkateshananda explains that atha doesn’t just mean now but indicates some auspiciousness, that now is the moment when everything comes together to make this explication of yoga possible. It occurred to me the other day that the other important meaning of the word atha or now in this sutra is that now is the only thing—we can only learn about yoga in this present moment.  We have to be here now (to quote an oft-quoted book title) in order to do anything, including studying or practicing yoga.

When I was driving home a couple of days ago from the Samarya Yoga Teacher Training, I got frustrated with a few drivers and even passed some cars on the two-lane road. At some point, I was driving behind a black car, maybe a Trans Am (if people still drive those). I think I was off-and-on irritated with the driver’s driving who sometimes put on the brakes for no apparent reason, but mostly I was thinking about all kinds of things, about the training, about this blog, about yoga and probably all kinds of other mundane things. Then, the car in front of me braked again and I braked and said out loud, “What the f**k?” And then the driver put his arm out the window and flipped me off. And it was a quick trip back to NOW. I suddenly realized how unpresent I had been.  I will admit that I occasionally tail someone who is not driving according to my standards, but in this instance, I actually had no idea I was being a pain in the ass to this driver in front of me—I was just off in my own little world. And then I had the opportunity to wake up.  I was back in the now and I was grateful for that.