Since its beginnings in the ancient river valleys of Northern India, yoga has been defined in many ways. Today, “yoga” is often translated as “union.” This definition relies on the root, “yuj,” which means “to yoke or bind together.” When defined in this way, the Art of Surrender resembles yoga, for both invite us into union with the divine.
According to this contemporary definition of yoga, the individual self (the ego-personality) is estranged from its essence—its sacred core. In order to repair this alienation, yoga provides practices that unite the finite self with its divine essence. This uniting has been imaged as a yoke joining two plow-pulling oxen, but yogic union may be understood through other metaphors, such as the spilling of a small stream into a vast one. Individuals who have allowed their personal identities to merge with the divine Self are sometimes called “yoked” ones.
Yogic practices include meditating in prescribed postures, chanting sacred words, enacting breathing exercises, dedicating one’s labors to God, discriminating between the egoic self and the divine Self, and so on. Each practice is based in surrender—in offering oneself to the divine—even if the word “surrender” is not mentioned. Traditional yogis regularly give up their freedom of movement and their ingrained mental and emotional habits during spiritual practices.
Eventually, these disciplines enable yogis to directly access the deep, eternal Self which can never be wounded. It is, they say, an ever-flowing font of wisdom, stability, vitality, and love.
The Art of Surrender also helps unite individuals with their essence, although this path “yokes” in a different way. The expressive arts serve as the vehicle—the visible means—in this creative practice.
The Art of Surrender unfolds through several steps. First, we quiet our minds in order to look deeply into our inner worlds, noticing images, gestures, or pithy phrases that symbolize an aspect of our ego-personality, and of our divine nature. After depicting each symbol on or with paper (or through movements or sounds), we allow them to join in another art-piece. Through this coupling, we give—we surrender—an aspect of our ego-self to the God within. When these steps are enacted repeatedly and with sincerity, we touch—and may even abide within—the equanimity, peace, and love of our sacred core.
Photo: Matthew Hillier, Creative Commons License, www.flickr.com