The Role Of The Observer

Despite its popularity as a fitness routine, the practice of yoga is primarily about mental fitness, focus and stillness. We position our bodies in specific ways to, among other things, begin and continue down the path of self-control. After all, it's much easier to control the positioning of your body (for example, try standing still) than it is to control your mind (for example, try thinking about just one thing, or nothing at all...good luck). Our ultimate goal in controlling our mental focus is to have the ability to be disconnected from the rollercoaster of our daily lives. Not that we don't want connection to our family, friends, communities and endeavors, but we should not be controlled by them, since in many ways they are beyond our control. We should not be forced to behave or feel a certain way without embracing it. When I watch my 6 year old son laugh and play, I feel joy and warmth, and the mindfulness that yoga brings me allows me to fully recognize, be present for, and embrace that joy (most of the time...no one is perfect). And while I certainly have concerns about his wellbeing when he's at school or somewhere else not under my supervision, I am not crippled by paranoia that he might get hurt or have a bad experience. That's an obvious example, but illustrates our goal with yoga--observe your world, and participate as you see fit, rather than having all its uncontrollable forces (indeed, you cannot control your world) control you.

The role of the Observer is present across many disciplines, but I find its centrality to yoga and centrality to Quantum Physics fascinating. In Quantum Physics, the area of scientific Physics that deals with the behavior of matter and energy at the subatomic scale, matter does not exist--in the way we typically think about existence--until it is observed. It is not yet present in spacetime. Rather, prior to being observed, all matter is in a state of "quantum superposition", which can be thought of as a massive cloud of probable locations. Here, there may be a high probability a certain particle exists. There, a lower probability. At all places in spacetime, there is a probability value of a given particle existing. That probability may be infinitesimal at most locations, but it is still a nonzero number. This sounds crazy but countless scientific experiments have confirmed the predictions of quantum theory over the past century.

In Chapter 10 of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna describes how He is the ultimate duality that underpins all of existence, essentially neither being nor non-being, he is samadhi, the state in which the Knower and the Known become one. The traditional practice of yoga seeks to polish, declutter or cleanse ourselves of our crude bodily and animalistic tendencies so that the light, the piece of Krishna, that exists in us all may shine--that we may emulate that divine disposition. Animals are stimulus-response. They are not observing, considering, then acting--just ask my loveable shepherd mix, Debbie, that feels the need to warn me of every person that walks by our house (we live on a busy city street).

As humans, with the capacity of disengaged observation, we can control our reactions, and yoga allows us not just to exercise our physical muscles, but improves our mental strength. We can decide how we act in the world. If we are observing--being in that state of superposition--we are then exercising control over when, where and how we show up--how we "exist" in a more traditional sense of the term. Do our mental processes "exist" for anyone but ourselves? Heavy Philosophy aside, not really, at least not in our day to day lives. Mindfulness, detached consideration and thoughtful action is our superposition. How we then act is then how we exist to the world. Scientific experimentation puts probabilities on particles, but if we dedicate ourselves to our bodies and our minds, we are in control of our own probability cloud, our own superposition, and thereby, our own existence.

A reflection on Yoga by Austin DuBois, co-owner of Newburgh Yoga Shala.

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