My yoga classes often elucidate a principle of yogic philosophy using something that has come up in my life off the mat.  This morning, I listened to Alice Walker speak to Amy Goodman on “Democracy Now” about her book Overcoming Speechlessness (which I’m now ordering) and was immediately inspired to teach about truth during my morning class.

Alice Walker spoke about being a college student and hearing of the Belgian President ordering that the hands of workers be cut off in the Belgian Congo if they could not fulfill the rubber quota he had imposed; this atrocity so “appalled her” that she could not speak of it.  This is a feeling I know, and I am quite certain many of us are familiar with the rising of our belly into our chest, then into our throats, so consumed are we with outrage or passion, that we simply cannot bear to speak.

The Yoga Sutras describe truth (Satya, in Sanskrit) as one of the basic ethical considerations (Yamas) of Yoga.  “For one who increasingly practices honesty or truthfulness in actions, speech, and thoughts, his or her will is naturally fulfilled.”  The aim of the Sutras (in a major nutshell) is to liberate oneself from suffering and reconnect with the divine, so you could break this down to say that truth in word, thought and action is a necessary step on the path to happiness.  Thus, we simply cannot ignore those things we struggle to speak about. 

So we must speak.  We must speak truth in order to be Ahimsa (nonviolence, or peace).  And how can we find our voice amidst the horror? How can we connect the ocean of love within our hearts to the fire of passion in our belly while keeping our head straight?  The breath, my dears.  Quite simply, go to your breath.

Biologically, breathing in and out through the nose calms the sympathetic nervous system (the fight-or-flight impulse that arises when we encounter a stressor— in this case, the horrific treatment of humans at the hand of other humans), allowing you to reclaim your perspective and your true strengths.  Energetically, returning to the breath allows us space to reconnect with our deepest intentions: perhaps to “be the change” (as Gandhi said) or to embody peace at all times.  Stepping into truth requires that we not succumb to overwhelm by the atrocities of the world, and this takes practice.

In her classic book, Energy Medicine, Donna Eden describes a process known as “Reprogramming the Emergency Response Loop,” in which the practitioner learns to keep her wits about her in a difficult moment. The practice involves relaxing while holding thoughts of the difficulty.  This could prove supremely important in our quest to speak the truth, for we do run the risk of being so overwhelmed by violence in the world that we rather not think of it, let alone speak of it, or act to stop it.

Today, however, we begin by simply breathing into the lowest reaches of the lungs, knowing that we can embody the truth. We can be the peace. We start the change: one breath at a time.

OM. Shanti. OM.