The following is the text of an article I wrote for Origin Magazine.
Seeing the Big Picture
by Ross Rayburn
I was reading the newspaper at Starbucks this morning and overheard a guy at the register pontificating, after announcing that he was an acting teacher, about how everything in the world can be achieved through the universal principles of acting. His passion left no doubt about the high regard he has for what he does in life.
My first thought was: this is how I sound when I talk about Anusara Yoga. I tend to be quite passionate and to someone who might overhear my advocacy, I probably sound a little over the top.
The next thought was how this happens to most of us. It seems quite human to become enamored, if not wedded to the habits and circumstances we’ve collected in our lives. It makes total sense that we own our experiences and that it’s a short step to going overboard and seeing everything we do and feel through a lens deeply tinted by those experiences.
And this probably gets in our way. You could say it’s even a human defect that our biases often mask reality and obscure the path we should actually follow in our innate desire to grow.
This prompted my next thought: Anusara Yoga addresses this tendency by encouraging us to see to the highest perspective first, in any situation. (And yes, it’s noted that the first sentence of this paragraph is an example of what I’m talking about!)
Basically, what this means to me, is at minimum to have an intention and at most to consistently remember to not lose sight of the big picture. Of course life will naturally and incessantly pull us into the minutiae. However, the skill of keeping an open mind, and for that matter, an open heart is another thing entirely.
The Sanskrit word that goes well here is Upeksha. It’s one of my favorite words for this reason. It basically means to step back and see life from an elevated perspective. It’s similar to the objectivity we have when there is distance from a situation.
It’s a great concept to ponder and practice. Stress, chaos or even mundaneness pulls us into the myopia of “the small picture” and our ability to choose the highest or best course of action is usually diminished. Yet, pausing, taking a breath, and even just trying to see the big picture can be a magical strategy for navigating just about every situation in life.
This is of course, not easy. I always like to joke that as soon as I think I’ve learned how to practice Upeksha, the universe has a wonderful way of saying, “try this!” When we’re faced with great challenge or intensity, the ability to pause, I would argue, is an extremely sophisticated spiritual skill.
Still, even though I don’t always make good choices, the Upeksha strategy really works. And like any skill, you get better at it over time.
So, when I talk about how much I love Anusara Yoga because of all of the blessings this practice has offered me and how it’s elevated my teaching and my life, I do my best to remember that there’s a bigger picture of yoga … a bigger base of spirituality upon which Anusara is built. The result is sweet. My enthusiasm inspires rather than alienates. I find I connect with more people. And when I advocate my beliefs after orienting them to a grand vision, they are more often received with the loving intention from which they came.
Upeksha … try it!
