Another Article On Sharon Gannon And David Life

Sharon Gannon & David Life talk about Yoga

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Sharon Gannon and David Life are among the most well-known and respected Yoga teachers in the USA today. Their success has, as some might say, put them in the category of Yoga Super-Stars, as a result many aspiring yogis have studied at their New York City Yoga studios. A practitioner in their Lafayette Street center once told us, “If David and Sharon are at the center they create more of a buzz than if a movie stars where attending class there.” Despite the sensationalism in regards to their current popularity, David and Sharon are dedicated to the authentic teachings of Yoga.

On Activism
Q: Do you feel that a Yoga practitioner should take an active role in today’s political climate, and what role should they play?

Sharon: To be political means that you care about others; the other beings with whom you share this world with. So being political is very much in line with the teachings of compassion, which are the foundation of the yogic teachings.

The goal of the Yoga practice is Samadhi (Yoga enlightenment, super-consciousness). What is realized in the state of Samadhi is the oneness of being. Yoga practices are methods to help us over come “otherness; to free us from the constraints of linear time and bound perceptions of three-dimensional space. As long as we perceive incorrectly, meaning we are seeing many and not the One, then we must relate to the others, who we are seeing in a certain way; a way which will bring us to more of a correct perception of reality. Others are there to give us the opportunity to grow. Others are our teachers. The world will either keep us in bondage, or provide us with the means to liberation. It is our choice in how we perceive the world. The world is the Divine Mother. It is only through Her blessings that enlightenment/liberation becomes possible. This is beautifully expressed in the following mantra from Chapter 11 of the Durga Saptashati:

Om sarva mangala mangalye shive sarvatha-sadhike,
Sharanye tryambake gauri Naranyani namo’sthu te

Which translates as: I salute the three-eyed Divine Mother, Narayani, who brings total auspiciousness and who fulfills the desire for liberation. Realization arises with Her blessing. She is the world itself. Only through the experiences of life can the soul be perfected. Honor this gift, your life, bow to Mother Nature.

So the project, we could say has to do with getting blessed by Her, creating a situation , creating a receptive vehicle in the form of one’s one body/mind complex to receive Her blessings. To live liberated is what the term jivanmukti implies.

Q: How can one become active without getting caught up in attachment, judgment or aversion?

Sharon: By practicing Yoga! Vairagya, the practice of detachment, renunciation will render the mind free of attachment, judgment and aversion. Stop blaming others!

Q: Do you think that becoming an activist can replace the goal of yoga, which is ultimately to realize God?

Sharon: One must actively pursue the goal of Yoga which is God realization. What this active pursuit involves is a clearing away of avidya or misknowing or misperception. Everything and everyone we see is coming from our own minds, which in turn is a product of our past actions; our karmas. Basically the Yogi is involved with cleaning up their own act. I suppose we could say that most activists today (I’m speaking of the ones who aren’t also Yogic practitioners) are concerned with cleaning up other people’s acts. To view the world as black and white, or the good guys vs the bad guys is a misunderstanding of reality.

Through Yogic practices you come to realize that it is all coming from your mind, that this whole world is being created out of the actions that you have done in your past. Well, when you begin to wrap your head around that one and embrace that concept it is a pretty heavy moment. You begin to contemplate the potential results of your actions. You know that however you treat someone will be the way that someone in your future will treat you. You begin to see the value in your actions. You can see the expensiveness of your actions. You begin to reflect on whether or not you can karmically afford certain actions. You look more closely into the conditioned automatic responses you may have to others who are being unkind to you. You certainly don’t get caught in the normal syndrome of waiting for other people to make things right in the world before you decide that you can be happy.

As His holiness the Dalai Lama has said, “Think of the problems in the whole world as your fault.” Implying that we are the problem, but at the same time we are the solution. To care for others rather than condemning them is in our own self-interest. His Holiness calls it “enlightened self-interest.” Many think of this idea of emptiness or looking at the world as well as others as coming from our own mind, from our own karmas as soley a Buddhist idea. Yes, Buddhists have recognized the importance of understanding emptiness or where things come from, but Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras also presents this idea to the Yogi very clearly here’s one example:

vastu-samye-chitta-bhedat tayor vibhaktah pantah (YS IV.15)

Which translates as: Each individual person perceives the same object in a different way, according to their own state of mind and projections. Everything is empty from its own side and appears according to how you see it.