Lesson One • Suppleness and Surrender: How to Flow Through Samsara
Moving Beyond Samskaras:
Lineage teacher Swami Muktananda once taught that from the moment we wake up in the morning, till the moment we fall asleep at night, most of us, most of the day, are simply pulling what we like towards us and pushing away what we don’t like. These endless unconscious actions are performed not from awareness, but from likes and dislikes based on internal patterns known as Samskaras. A life lived according to samskaras leads us in circles, like a dog chasing its tail. This endless loop is called samsara.the Yogic Tradition’s description of the endless cycle of worldly life. Enlightenment, essentially, is breaking free of this loop through surrender.
As Sri Shambhavananda teaches: “We all have
emotions. We all have reactions that we can’t control. We all have
feelings that we don’t understand. But the best thing to do is to wit-
ness this play of energy that goes on in your mind. Witness how you
are busy redefining everything each moment as things happen. This
redefining absorbs an enormous amount of time and energy that you
should spend searching for your true self. Search to find out who you
really are. We all have things happen to us that we attach to and that
we allow to define us. Those things become the basis upon which we
live our lives. Some of the events are painful. Some of them are pleas-
ant. This is the dualistic nature of [samskaras, which form the basis of] samsara. We are dragged from one extreme to another because of our attach-
ments. When you separate from the things that pull you around emotion-
ally and physically you will find a very good state to be in. People think that detachment is a numb, dull state. It is not. As you become more centered, you will learn to engage in life and the world
without paying the price that you normally would pay. You will begin
to address the problems that arise in your life with a much broader
vision than is possible when you are totally drawn into your sams-
karas.” (SP, 68)
Push, Pull, Surrender
It’s no coincidence that when we really want something, our shoulders and arms literally try to pull the external object towards us, and when we really don’t want something, its those same arms and shoulders that push them away. When we’re tired or feeling down in our heart, our shoulders might slump down in front of us. Or, when we feel proud, strong, or even just caffeinated, our shoulders draw back to lift our chest an inch higher. It’s true that we have to push and pull to move through our day, but as we know from the Sutras, being stuck in pushing and pulling inevitably leads to suffering. As the Tantrasadbhava describes it, “Here, being completely dependent on that illusive energy of knowledge and being without real knowledge, you are continuously doing right or wrong. So, being completely entangled in that fence you become just like a beast.”
Sthiram Sukham Awe-Some!
So how do we rise above this loop of samsara, to become the witness as Sri Shambhavananda described it, while still performing the necessary pushing and pulling that it takes to move through our life? This is yet another way of understanding Surrender, the over-arching goal of the entire Yogic Tradition. When it comes to our movement practice, and particularly to the movements of our shoulders, a focal point that can guide us on the path of surrender is the movement principle of ‘suppleness’. Suppleness implies both strength and flexibility, the two essential aspects of Patanjali’s original maxim, “sthiram-sukham-asanam”. Our movements should be solid, yet malleable, encompassing the qualities of ‘effortless effort’ and ‘perseverance without tension’. In terms of everyday life, it is this magic combination that is responsible for the world’s most amazing architecture. The metal used for skyscrapers is called ‘mild steel’— it is strong like steel, yet flexible enough to bend with the wind under pressure. In our bodies, a similarly miraculous building material connects our muscles to one another creating the front line, back line, lateral line, spiral line, etc. We know this as connective tissue, which surrounds each individual muscle, down to a cellular level. We are wrapped in it from head to toe, and its most amazing attribute is its ability to provide both strength and stretch.
Until its fun, better left undone
This incredible strength isn’t about muscles, its about connectivity— its about movement! Children are super heroes in this regard— watch them play on a playground and try to visualize an adult doing the same thing— that adult would be quite an athlete. The moral of the story here is that strength isn’t always what we think it is— strength is about fluidity and play, it requires that we move with suppleness and receptivity.
Supple Strength is Natural:
You may not know this, but Bruce Lee’s martial art form, called Wing Chun, was one of the only martial arts created by a woman. It is based primarily on the supple strength of our connective tissue, utilizing the whole body for every punch, like pulling back the arrow on a bow. The supple strength we seek in our shoulders, and in our lives, is within our reach if we are willing to reach inside while we move outside.
Bruce Lee once described this kind of supple strength like the power of water— it adjusts to the objects and finds a way through them or around them. Water, like supplenes, is itself shapeless— it can conform to any situation. It is also capable of incredible strength, just sit next to a waterfall and feel it for yourself. “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
Pushing & Pulling with Surrender:
We can play with this concept in a natural way with a simple Tai Chi exercise that teaches supple surrendered movement as well as integration with the breath and utilizes the shoulders, as well as helps us emphasize the simplicity and intuitive nature of this inner sensation, ie. ‘triple awarenss’. Perhaps you’ve seen this simple exercise in a tai chi class you walked by in the park one day, its called ‘pushing and pulling’.This exercise emphasizes the principles of yielding while also applying force, teaching practitioners how to harmonize opposing energies. By engaging in a push-pull dynamic, individuals learn to maintain their center [of gravity] while understanding how to redirect external force efficiently. The Push-Pull technique is not just physical but also mental, promoting a state of mindfulness and internal equilibrium. It's valuable for enhancing body awareness, improving posture, and developing greater resilience against physical and emotional stress.
Exercise: Pushing & Pulling with Surrender
Although there are many variations of it, one of the simplest and most traditional styles begins with a simple and short Virabhadrasana I stance. The hands push an imaginary ball forward and down as you exhale, as you glide the weight forward into the front leg. The hands then pull back as you inhale, the weight shifting back with you. The hands stay supple, like the shoulders, and follow the arc of an eclipse as you go forward and back. This exercise shows us that pushing and pulling are natural aspects of our everyday life, but when done from a place of surrender and internal focus, that same pushing and pulling can lead you to a sense of suppleness and surrender, which is ultimately our goal with supple shoulders.