John’s Sunday Blog

The Map is not the Territory

See, a map is an idea, a concept, a tool. A representation can also give you an actual description or known truth to what’s really there. Yes, it may be helpful, to a degree, concerning matters of travel or a pre-understanding of steps to take when attempting something new. But, it’s never really the “thing” itself, is it? Take for example the continent of the US. We chop it up into lots, cities, counties, states and finally country. Yet, would there be any of those without the territory? The actual land mass with its rivers, lakes, mountains and valleys. And even those words do not do it justice. The undulating lands pulsing with life where waters fall or wander as rivers. And just like a book, no stories can be written without the pages and the binding. No territory, no map.

So what does this have to do with yoga, or anything at all? Just look, we are highly mental and emotional beings. And an inordinate amount of time and energy can be spent mapping what might happen with the flavors of what happened the last time, comparing, etc. There is nothing wrong with this, except the degree at which one spends in the cave of the mind listening to the echoes.

Yoga balances our thinking mind with our focusing mind. We bring the focused mind to the body, to the terrain. So, first, the physical. The terrain of the body has a range of motion. When that range of motion is not used, over days, months, years there is an effect on the terrain. Just like a drought, if the rain doesn’t come, the creeks and rivers stagnate and areas of land become dry and brittle; plants and animals disappear. This can happen in the twists and turns In the body. Yoga practice gets into the dusty corners of our range of motion. It brings more blood and fluid through movement and breath, lubricating and strengthening tissues and bones. It brings calm to the mind as it focuses on what is, at the moment. Life in a body.

And what about the mind? It is the map maker but what is its territory? What is the context in which it appears? It appears in our simple perception or awareness one might say. To know the difference between the two, one only needs to ask, “Which of these never changes?” Thoughts change, feelings change, sensations change, even perception changes. The brain has its waves, the busy beta, the calm alpha, the blissfully theta, the blanked out delta, and the dreamer. What is it that knows all those states? Awareness. What good does it do to know this? Well, when one sits in it, one can be in the eye of the hurricane so to speak. This can be practiced through meditation, yoga Nidra, and self inquiry. Insights and calm will come, as well as the release of stored tension\ memories. Why? Simply because of the qualities of awareness:

OPEN

SPACIOUS

UNNAFFECTED

PRESENT

It is not a subtle state or something you look for. It’s the one that is looking. The territory on which your whole life revolves around.