APPROACHES TO PARINAMA: SORROW, SEQUENCE, COMMUNITY, AND SILENCE
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he seed that transforms into root, tree, flower, and fruit is parinama . The effect of seed is fruit, and the seed is again hidden in the fruit. However, the transformation keeps on occurring from seed to fruit and fruit to seed.” (B.K.S. Iyengar, Astadala Yogamala vol. VIII, p. 255)
As a way of introducing the concept of “ parinama,” letting its meaning sink in through the example of others, we asked advanced teachers to reflected on how parinama plays out in their own practice, in their teaching, and in their lives. Here are the responses.
Carrie Owerko Parinama is defined as “transformation.” The context in which we first encounter parinama is in the second chapter of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, in the sutras relating to sorrow—its cause and removal. For me, these are very difficult sutras in many ways because life does, in fact, include pain or sorrow—and yes, suffering. If we are going to live and love fully and completely, we will end up feeling the full spectrum of human emotion (including suffering). One way to look at the transformative power of yoga is to look at how yoga practice enhances our capacity to frame, reframe, and ultimately find meaning in our experiences. I read an interview in the New York Times recently that made me re-examine these sutras. In the interview, the wife of a man who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer asked her
husband whether their plans to conceive a child during his illness might increase his suffering. She said, “Don’t you think saying goodbye to your child will make your death more painful?” He responded, “Wouldn’t it be great if it did?” They agreed that life for them was not about avoiding suffering. It was about creating meaning. This took my breath away. It was such a beautiful expression of what it means to be human. How we frame the fact that life is change effects how we experience it. We can transform our experience of change and the suffering that comes from trying to avoid or deny change by finding meaning in change. So I try and encourage students to look at how the practice of yoga can help them live a fully embodied life, change and all. And asking questions seems to be really helpful. Such as: Why are we doing this? What is the meaning in all of this? I find it helpful to keep living these questions because they are powerful ones that can be lived in a fully embodied way, in our practice. Perhaps by living these questions, we can transform our human sorrow into something beautiful and meaningful. And that meaning comes from the recognition that it is our love—and our suffering—that yokes or connects us. Carrie Owerko Intermediate Senior II New York, NY
Carrie Owerko
Yoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2016
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