Is it possible to be powerful and yet compassionate? It’s a question I find myself asking over and over in my role as a studio director, yoga teacher, girlfriend, mother, sister, and daughter. I think it is a struggle that most humans share. How can we hold our personal power, but not become hard and rigid in the process?
As I explore those questions inside myself, I look to the story of Durga for inspiration. She is this fierce Warrior Goddess often spoke of in yoga circles and taken from Hindu mythology. As written in the mythology, there was a time when all the great deities were having trouble defeating one particularly difficult demon. This demon was once granted a wish – that no man could defeat him. So try as they might, the great deities and warriors of the age failed repeatedly in their quest to defeat this demon. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (the big three of the Hindu deities) had an idea. They decided to create a female warrior goddess and bestowed upon her some of their most special powers, allowing them to get around that “no man” part of the wish.
Durga is the warrior aspect of the mother goddess. She radiates both strength and compassion. I find myself repeatedly visiting this story when I am struggling to attain the balance between being empowered and still open and welcoming. I often use the ideas of her story for inspiration in my life and in my yoga classes. What I have found through my experience is that yoga is just like life. So, the more those demons push me toward power, hardness, and rigidity and away from compassion in my everyday circumstances, the more those demons reveal themselves when I practice, making my body hard to move and prone to injury. As I step on the mat to move my body in periods of power struggles, what I find is how much harder I am on my physical body in each pose, and how much more rigid my mind is about what I am doing. Somewhere along the way, the demons are disposed and that compassionate energy begins to enter and invite more softness. Suddenly, there is a return of balance in my mind, body & heart. As with all my writing, it sounds so much easier than it is. Truth be told, sometimes the demons win. It might take lots of beating myself up to finally wear myself down so that all that is left is surrendering and opening to compassion. It is a battle that I willingly wage for that precious balance to be restored. Ultimately, when compassion and softness return, the result on the mat is that the poses that were previously unattainable open up, and my mind speaks less hurtfully to me in the process. Experiences on the mat teach me how to let go, trust and eventually bring compassion into my life situations. I learn how to be grounded in my empowerment with both strength and compassion. What a beautiful gift!
I’ve written this sequence to guide you into creating the physical, mental and spiritual balance between strength and softness, power and compassion, empowerment and surrender. Whatever it is that is arising in your life, I hope you can meet it fully grounded in your power, but completely open to the opportunities compassion and softness bring to it, even if it takes a while!
And, in case you were wondering, in the story, Durga kicked that demon’s behind, leaving him totally stunned!
Watch my Warrior Goddess Sequence below for a short class that will help you connect to the power of the warrior and balance with the compassionate softness of the goddess. Let us know what you think on Twitter @hercampusohiou and on Facebook!
Cover photo: santabanta.com