Bringing Yoga Principles to Social Media

Lately, yoga has brought my Monkey Mind into deeper thoughts.  Deeper thoughts about, you guessed it, Creation itself. Woah and Holy Moly!

Dear yoga friends, Creation is a gift and a God-given right.  Creation lives inside each one of us with the spoken and written word, in music, poetry, theatre;  Creation with the body, hands or face; or physical forms such as buildings, roads, art, or machinery; and nowadays, in the form of social media.  

Yogis have understood for centuries that it is not always easy to create with Intention, Mindfulness, and above all, Purpose and Love.  Especially in today’s technological era, and dare I say caustic environment, speed, not Purpose or Love, matters.  

I had a heart-to-heart with my sis about individuals, friends and family who we perceived to just “shoot from the hip” and “throw with their eyes shut”. Whoever is able to spew out the first idea is the “winner” (and yes, I say “winner” with much irony and sarcasm), but oftentimes this is done without processing the ramifications of what may come of their words or actions.  It is easy to produce a thought or opinion, but it is much harder to say only what is needed.  

Once upon a time, a Yogi named Patanjali told us Yogi followers that Ahimsa is a principal that all Yogis should strive to live by.  Ahimsa means non-harm to any living being with our thoughts, words, or actions.  Who among us hasn’t violated that sacred Yama about fifty times inside of one week?  Who hasn’t laid on the horn a little too unnecessarily, who hasn’t walked over an ant on the sidewalk, or participated in office gossip, or unfriended someone, or ignored a good friend or family member when they needed you, all to satisfy your own whims and fancies?  Yes, fancies – I said it!

It is easy to produce a thought or opinion, but it is much harder to say only what is needed.  

Our Creation helps, loves, nurtures and nourishes, but it also destroys and causes ripples of pain into the world.  We have to ask ourselves, as wise Yogis would, what kind of Creation do we want to bring forth into this world?  Or as some wise Monkeys once said, “Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil.”

Namaste Fellow Creators and Yogis.