Overcoming obstacles
Last week I was struggling a lot with a number of things that affected my confidence in myself. I had deadlines coming up and I just couldn’t seem to get to grips with what I was trying to get done and started panicking. I cancelled a few things, worried about a few more and let some opportunities pass me by because I didn’t think that I could handle them. As the week went on I started feeling worse and worse. And granted, an ongoing global pandemic, returning to and waiting on the results of the US election didn’t exactly help with feeling calm and in control.
Back in my office days I’d have described this as imposter syndrome rearing its head, but this time I’ve been reflecting on what this means in the context of yoga.
Patanjali, in the yoga sutras, outlines obstacles to yoga, what this leads to, and how it can be overcome.
The obstacles are described as illness, procrastination, indecision or doubt, carelessness, laziness, cravings, misperceptions or false views, failure and instability. These can lead to mental and physical pain, sadness and frustration, unsteadiness of the body and irregular breath.
So my week of ‘I can’t do this’, ‘I’m not getting this right’, ‘I’ve too much to do to be able to do this properly’, ‘There’s no point doing this’ and ‘Others can do this so much better than me’ does fit into the obstacles to the inner yoga journey. What’s interesting is that Patanjali describes these as predictable obstacles, which may be reassuring to some that they are an expected part of the process of self-development. And the tasks I was trying to complete last week are part of my self-development so maybe it would be useful to think about overcoming obstacles through the advice in the sutras.
So Patanjali says that distractions of the mind come first. If these are not addressed they become obstacles. So we need to address the link between the distractions and the obstacles by focussing the mind so the distractions don’t take over. We need to cultivate an awareness of what’s going on within ourselves so we can address any struggles.
So this week I’m starting with a new plan and fresh eyes. I’m prioritising self-care and calming my mind. I’ve put together a gentle yoga practice for myself to do daily. I’ve broken down my to-do list into manageable chunks that I can focus on one at a time. And if I start doubting, I’ll take a step back and work out what’s real and what’s not. That might be by talking it through with someone, or by meditating on it.
In stormy weather we have to be prepared, so like I might pull on wellies for a walk in the woods, I’m equipping myself for what this week will have in store for me.
More information
The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali in Desikachar, The Heart of Yoga (1995)
https://www.swamij.com/index-yoga-meditation-yoga-sutras.htm