I have a dear friend who is discontent with her life.

She wishes to move away; somewhere in Europe maybe. She is in her early 40s, independently employed, with no kids or partner tying her to the city. She’s smart, sexy and knows how to have fun. But she does have one problem. When we discuss what’s holding her back from chasing her dreams it comes down to stuff.

That’s right, she has too much stuff.

In our culture, our things often define who we are and our place in this world. Personally they remind us of where we’ve been, who we’ve met and experiences we have had. They tell us what is important to us.

We all love to make a house a home and our belongings do just that. Whether it be collections of art, elegantly arranged furniture that took years to collect, or a simple set of pots and pans, our belongings tell our stories. We become attached to our stories and by simply finding an attachment to these things, we are living in the past.

We are finding comfort in the familiar and are less likely to step outside that comfort bubble to where the magic happens.

If we want to change something in our lives, we have to have an active plan to make it so. One of the ways we can take our yoga off the mat is practice, or Abhyasa, and non-attachment or Vairagya, two core principles in the Yoga Sutras which help us to slowly slip away from that comfortable space of our stuff.

Let me be clear: non-attachment isn’t easy, or everyone would be living with less. However, it might not be as drastic as you think either.

Abhyasa, not to be confused with Sadhana, a more specific method of working with body, breath and mind, is the cultivation of a strong conviction and persistent effort to choose a lifestyle, actions, efforts, thoughts and language, as well as a spiritual practice that go in a positive direction toward a stable state of tranquility.

Vairagya goes hand-in-hand with this as it is that practice of letting go gradually of that which doesn’t take us in this direction we seek. It is the active and systematic exploration of letting go of attachments, fears, aversions and false selves that cloud the true self.

Today, I invite you into the meditation that I use for my own attachment to stuff.

Let this meditation pull you out and into the practice of non-attachment. Take a moment to reflect on your heart’s desire. What are the actions, speech and thoughts that lead me toward steady, stable and undisturbed tranquility. Think. Meditate. Listen.

I need to do more of these things:

1)

2)

3)

Now what are the actions, speech and thoughts which lead me away from steady, stable tranquility. These are the negative habits we have that railroad us from making magic happen and carry us away from the path we wish to be on.

I need to do less of these things:

1)

2)

3)

To further our meditation contemplation today, we explore our attachments even deeper with the next exercise in active and older attractions and aversions. Continue to sit and hear what is coming in the meditation when we think about active attractions in our lives. These are ideas, beliefs, opinions and people which we feel attracted to that are not useful.

I need to gradually let go of these attractions:

1)

2)

3)

Now contemplate those ideas we have an active aversion to that which is not useful in our lives.

I need to gradually let go of these aversions:

1)

2)

3)

As we continue this exercise we find ourselves contemplating this question: Is there something I’ve already released?

Below are some attractions and aversions I’ve let go or am already working on letting go:

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

Lastly, take one more moment to contemplate the following.

If I had only one suitcase to take with me on a journey, what would go and what would stay?

Write down what you would take—this suitcase is any size you wish to carry.

But remember, baggage can weigh you down. Each day, before meditation, take one of the items recorded out of that mental suitcase. How does it feel? What are the consequences? Does it fit in any of the above categories of attraction or aversion?

This contemplation is meant to help us with spiritual growth to coax us into discriminating between what actions, speech and thoughts take us in the right direction and those which might be a diversion. This cultivation is the foundation for our yoga practice off the mat into the physical realm of your stuff eventually.

My friend, I’m proud to say, has recently come up with a game plan to get her where she wants to be, and she’s practiced Abhyasa and Vairagya, without even really recognizing it. I can tell, because her magic is really happening!

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Relephant read:

Too Much Stuff Isn’t Sexy.

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Author: Sarah Russell

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: courtesy of the author