Yoga is not about becoming a pretzel. We don’t need more pretzels today. We need people to become more human. That’s what yoga is really about: becoming more human.
Becoming More Human
What does it mean to become more human? American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of human is: “a member of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other apes by a large brain and the capacity for speech.”
By that definition, does having a larger brain make us more human? The larger brain has brought more progress for civilization but not necessarily more civility. It has not guaranteed peace, security and wellbeing. “Here we are,” Jane Goodall says, “the most clever species ever to have lived. So how is it we can destroy the only planet we have?” (Jane Goodall’s latest book is The Book of Hope, A Survival Guide for Trying Times.)
Nor does the capacity for speech guarantee a world of peace, safe from annihilation. Speech can divide and offend. It can confuse and deceive.
So, what does it mean to become more human? Years ago, children at a special educational conference were asked how we might solve the world’s problems being faced at the time (the same ones we are facing today). One child responded: “You must learn to think with your heart – when you think with your head, you mess things up.”
”While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your hearts” ~ St. Francis
“The Heart Has Its Reasons…” (Blaise Pascal)
That child was on to something. To solve the world’s problems, we cannot rely solely on the brain. Perhaps this is what Dr. Martin Luther King meant when he said: “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” Without guidance of the heart, we lose our way. We get into trouble. We make a mess of things.
We do have the capacity to think with our heart. The heart has intelligence of its own. Modern science has confirmed this. Your heart has its own brain with neurons similar to those of the cranial brain. The heart interacts with the brain. Scientists have found that the brain more often takes signals from the heart rather than vice versa. But in “misguided men,” that communication has been lost – the brain overrules the heart.
Throughout history, philosophers, poets and prophets have regarded the human heart as the source of love, wisdom, intuition and positive emotions. That’s no mystery: Where do you feel love? In your head or your heart? Where do you feel joy, gratitude, empathy or compassion? Place your hand where that is. I bet you won’t place your hand on your head. It will be on your heart.
Your Heart Makes a Difference in the World
So becoming more human is about giving more value to the heart. It’s about listening to and following your heart. If we want a better world, we have to think more with our heart. The novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky said: “It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them – the character, the heart, generous qualities…”
To make a difference in this world, everyone of us needs a change of heart. That’s the change that brings peace and unites us. That change makes us more human.
Researchers at the HeartMath Institute have confirmed the power of the heart to create positive change. They discovered that your heart generates an electromagnetic field that’s 40 to 50 times as strong as that of your brain. When your heart rhythms are coherent, that electromagnetic
field is strongest in your heart. People in your vicinity are affected positively. You are basically creating a peace zone around you, affecting those in your local vicinity and even having an effect globally.
If there is to be Peace in the world,
There must be Peace in the nations.
If there is to be Peace in the nations,
There must be Peace in the cities.
If there is to be Peace in the cities,
There must be Peace between neighbors.
If there is to be Peace between neighbors,
There must be Peace in the home.
If there is to be Peace in the home,
There must be Peace in the Heart.
—Lao Tzu
HeartMath has developed tools to develop heart rhythm coherency and reduce stress. You can create heart coherence simply by feeling a positive emotion in your heart – an emotion such as love or gratitude or compassion. And it helps to breathe slowly and deeply, as if breathing into your heart space. Stop and try this. See for yourself. (Those of you who have attended classes recently have been getting the opportunity to use this tool.)
In just a few minutes, your heart rhythm pattern becomes more ordered and stable. Even your blood chemistry changes. Stress dissolves. Your brain functions more efficiently. You think more clearly. Your performance improves. You feel more emotional well-being. As we say in yoga, you feel more like your Self.
In contrast, when you are feeling stress or a negative emotion, your heart rhythm becomes erratic and disordered. Signals sent to your brain inhibit brain function, affecting your ability to think clearly, to remember, learn, reason and make effective decisions.
Yoga Makes a Difference in the World
And then there’s yoga for becoming more human — Svaroopa® yoga in particular. You know how you feel after a yoga class, especially compared to before. You go home and there’s a better feeling there. Your conversations and relationships with family are more harmonious. You feel better. You sleep better. You live better. Instrumental to this change is the bliss you feel as a result of the yoga practice. In this month’s teaching article, titled The Bliss of Consciousness, Swami Nirmalananda says:
“…bliss is incredibly important. Why? The need for bliss is built into you. … Your mind and heart run on bliss. Without bliss, your heart dries up and your mind leapfrogs from anxiety to anxiety. It is not a pretty picture. When you get even a drop of bliss, you spontaneously exhale with a sweet sigh, “Aaahh.” All your biological systems stand down from red alert and you become human again. Being human means you have the capacity to shine God’s light and love into the world. You have this capacity because the source is within, what yoga calls “your own Self.”
And there you have the last word on what being human really means: “…you have the capacity to shine God’s light and love into the world. You have this capacity because the source is within, what yoga calls ‘your own Self.’”
You have the capacity within you. Svaroopa® Yoga helps you fulfill that capacity. As Swami so often says, “Do more yoga.” Become more human. Become more like you. Let God’s light and love shine through you into the world. The world needs you. It needs all of us to become more human, to be as your own Self.
And yet, bliss is not the goal of yoga. Consciousness is. Read Swami’s teaching article to find out more about the Bliss of Consciousness.