The Four Yogic Virtues ~by Cynthia Land LMT RYT

Yoga teaches us many things about life, even how to respond to the emotions and actions of others.  Recognizing and responding to our own emotions is one thing, but we then must go out into the world and deal with others.  How do we handle the emotions of others?  This is the first in two short blogs on Yoga's Four Virtues. The virtues are friendliness towards those who are happy, compassion towards those who are suffering, cheerfulness towards the ambitious and uninvolved observation towards the wicked. 

 When we are happy, we want everyone to be happy with us, but that's not always the case.  Some people can be jealous of our happiness.  Others can have feelings of inadequacy surface.  Notice how this makes you feel.  Notice how this could put a strain on your relationships.  How can you change the narrative if this happens to you?  Yoga asks us to be friendly in the face of another's happiness.  I can see situations where a friend might lord a windfall over someone.  So this is especially where we must learn a new way of being, learn to set aside petty jealousy and merely be friendly.  It might take practice. 

Another area that might take a lot of practice is with those who are suffering.  The occasional "I'm sorry for your pain," is fine but what about the chronic Eeyore who has the malady of the week or the heart ache of the day?  We can become so unmoved by their latest story of sadness that we just want to turn away.  Yoga asks us to continue to show them compassion.  If you work in a place where you constantly see those in pain you can become so inured to it that you don't react in the same way.  Yoga asks us to still show compassion.  It is a practice.

Over the course of the next month, watch yourself in the following circumstances; when someone comes into an unexpected windfall or when tragedy befalls a friend.  How do you react?  How do you feel about your reaction?  If your reaction doesn't feel good, can you change it?
We'll cover the remaining virtues next month.