Imagine you’re a 15-year-old girl, and you enter a room where a bunch of friends await you, gathered around a mirror laid flat on a table, a twinkle in their eyes. “Have a line!” they say. You do. “Have another!” They keep making you lines, and you keep snorting them. A little piece of your mind wonders why they aren’t partaking. But you ignore it because, well, more for you! You snort seven before your friends all lose it, rolling on the floor and laughing at you because you just did seven lines of Sweet’N Low. And they knew you’d fall for it because they know precisely how greedy you are.

This month’s yoga lesson is on aparigraha, yoga’s fifth yama, or moral restraint. Parigraha means to hoard or collect. The prefix “a” means not. So, aparigraha is the opposite of hoarding. The idea here is we don’t need to do seven lines of anything—especially not Sweet’N Low. Nor do we need to fill our homes and lives with a whole bunch of stuff we don’t need in the foreseeable future.

Hoarding can show up in many ways in our lives. I’m afraid I’m familiar with this one, as demonstrated by weird quirks like holding onto the last little bit of something in a bottle when it should be thrown away or rushing to look in free boxes when there’s really nothing I need. Nobody could say I require more swimsuits or yoga pants, but I see cute ones and can’t resist. Maybe parigraha appears in our lives as a sentimental attachment to too many old objects or a basement full of appliances that don’t work but could possibly be fixed one day. Or maybe we pack too much into our days—taking on too many work projects, social engagements, and travel plans.

One argument against accumulating material possessions is that it weighs us down and ties us to the material world. We worry about where to put our stuff, how to maintain it, or what will happen when it’s lost or damaged. We may stay in harmful and unhappy situations because we feel trapped in a lifestyle full of material possessions. How many miserable couples stay together because they can’t figure out how to divide their stuff?

Hoarding also shows a lack of faith. Depending on our philosophy, do we not trust in God, the universe, or ourselves to supply our material needs next year or a decade from now? Will God not help us find the suitable computer cable when necessary—and if God doesn’t, will we really find it ourselves in this jumbled box of unidentified cords?

I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t own or care about our belongings. We shouldn’t care so much about things that we let them rule our lives. And if we are operating from a deep sense of lack, it’s time to stop and examine that and reassure ourselves that we do, indeed, have enough. That we are enough. Trust me, no amount of Sweet’N Low or yoga pants will fill the void.

Yoga is more than poses.

SOBRIETY IN FLOW: Discover a deeper aspect of yoga beyond the poses with Teresa Bergen. Explore the philosophy, ethics, and spiritual principles of yoga intertwined with sobriety. Dive into the transformative power of the yamas, enhancing character and relationships. Join Teresa monthly for insights on how yoga and meditation can guide our paths to recovery and clarity.

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