In my experience practicing Yoga seems to trigger a desire to re-connect with mother nature, Perhaps because it is where we all come from. Where humans lived for hundreds of thousands of years before moving to cities during the industrial revolution. A very recent event on the scale of human history.
In an authentic Yoga practice we connect with our true selves and deepen awareness of body and mind. We stop feeling that we need to play roles, there is no need to pretend, there are no politics and no games.
In the wild mother nature doesn’t play games either. She doesn’t care about our bank account, gender, political opinions, nationality etc…And if you are in danger, say you come face to face with a hungry bear, you cannot negotiate your way out by saying something like ‘listen Teddy, if you don’t eat me I’ll give you some money and show your photo on my Instagram page which has thousands of followers!’
On the Yoga mat we practice with patience calming and focusing the mind, in silence as we observe. In the wild these are the pre-requisites for survival.
The rules of nature are simple and implacable: in order to survive one needs to develop genuine skills and a deep understand and respect of wildlife. I enjoyed watching this documentary called ‘ The Velvet Queen’. Munier and Tesson’s quest to find and observe the beautiful snow leopard in the Himalayans takes the form of an authentic meditative practice.
During the filming Tesson says: “This is what humanity has renounced’. Enjoy the film, but beware, you might cry like a baby after watching.