Love and Fear

“The human emotional spectrum can be broken down into two basic elements: love and fear.”

Gary Zukav

Love has a high energy level, fear has a low energy level. Emotions which are caused by fear, such as stress, hate, resentment, shame, or anger are all too common in our lives. Yoga allows me to focus on my practice, and brings me from a low energy level to a higher one.

The fear of discomfort or pain can also be a distraction. In my meditation practice, the pain of my knee and hip distracts me from focusing on my breathing. What is the fear for? Will my life end because of a little pain, or will there just be pain, which I cannot control? Instead of focusing on something I cannot control, I choose to focus on something I can control—my breath. Concentrating on my breath, eventually, I am not even aware of the pain anymore. 

It takes practice, to teach our minds to focus. If we can realize that pain and other feelings and emotions are temporary, then with love and compassion, we can observe, and let them be.

Love in yoga is showing compassion to ourselves and others, without condition. Doing the forward bent pose might be hard at first, because our hamstrings might be tight, so our hands cannot reach our toes. We can practice, first by bending the knees a little, not harming ourselves. And as the hamstrings get more flexible, we can reach a little bit closer to the toes. Our legs will get stronger, and more flexible as we practice more and more.

Love is about non-attachment, letting things be as they naturally are. Having respect for our bodies, practicing “Ahimsa” from the yoga sutras, meaning non-violence to self, also means not overdoing things. We can know our limitations and push ourselves to the limit, or push ourselves a few percentages more each time, so we can grow.

When we have a lot of fear, it depletes our energy level. Quickly bringing our energy level up with love, and being detached, will help us enjoy a better state of body, mind, and spirit. So, when we can use the higher energy level of love to offset the lower energy of fear, we can become happier and healthier.

Submitted by Naiyi Huang