In our physical structure we live in two very different bodies. And the more time you spend on the mat, stretching, twisting and arching back, the more you realize that your left and right sides not only have different tensions– even different shapes– but have different “personalities.” Hatha Yoga charts this as the polarity between “sun and moon.” The solar is the willful side, ruled by right-handedness and the liver/gall bladder. The left side is the more receptive, lunar side associated with the stomach and spleen. It is not only the sun/moon polarity that lives inside of us. We oscillate back and forth between sleeping and waking, sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve function and introversion/extroversion. And despite the recent blather from the Oval Office, we each have male and female traits.
I have been thinking of yet another pair that lives inside us– the one who knows and the one who doesn’t know. One half of us realizes unbroken unity and lives in present moment awareness. The other half bumbles along blindly and remains in the dark. This is our oblivious, ignorant side that tends to feel ambushed by the demands of the day. It routinely “forgets” or dismisses the wisdom of the knower. This side gets easily lost because it becomes preoccupied and is easily distracted. Buddhahood comes about when the knower eclipses the confused side altogether. But for most of us mortals, the best way to reconcile this split is by way of compassion. That is, our illumined, prescient side extends patience and tolerance toward our lost and confused side. In Biblical lexicon, this is known as “mercy.” When we muster tenderness and forgiveness toward our side that remains clueless, we strike a skillful balance. It is like balancing your hips and sacrum in warrior pose. Incorporate both sides by getting them to talk to each other. Let your side that is aware and your side that is unaware become friends. Then you can live out your days in peace.
