What Do You Expect?

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”     -Alexander Pope

As you begin to read this article, you might have an expectation of what it will be about.  Will it illuminate in any way?  Get straight to the information you need?  Will it annoy?  Will it be something you can share happily, or will it be something you can criticize?

As a yoga student, you have probably had an expectation of some kind walking into the studio.  That there would be less people, or more. That you would be facing this wall, or that one.  Perhaps you had an expectation of who was teaching.  Your regular teacher did not show up, and now you find yourself panicking.  Maybe this instructor won’t be as good, you think.  Maybe they will be too easy, or too hard.  Too much talk about chakras and not enough arm balances.  Maybe you won’t learn anything new and this will be an hour and a half you’ll never get back.  You grumble internally, “Crap, maybe I should have gone on the treadmill.”   And then it’s sealed.  Your day has just set the course to officially suck.

Expectation, just like wanting, is a prime source of suffering.  It sets you up for disappointment.   Yoga teaches us to let go of pesky expectation.  Yoga teaches us to release attachment to any particular outcome.  When you let go of your desire for the present moment to be a certain way, then you’re free to experience it as it is.   You can let go of your anger, your sorrow, your anxiety and allow yourself to open up to new possibility.

Next time, just before you enter the studio —or into a work or social situation— make the intention to free yourself of expectation.  Allow yourself to ride the wave of each moment as it comes. 

Then when you practice, don’t let the attainment of asanas be your guiding force, i.e. to think “Today I will master the headstand.” And what if you don’t “master” it?  Again, expectation. If your hips are tight, accept that your hips are tight and practice without any attachment to the goal of opening up that area. Allow yourself to naturally unfold in the field of your own body.  Be open and receptive to whatever comes your way.

If you’re not doing and being, then you’re thinking and judging and hoping and a whole mess of noise.  Just like that, you’re out of the present moment.  Allow the asana to unfold and merely feel yourself within it.  

The most exciting thing to understand about the journey of yoga —and maybe even life— is that all the joy, happiness and freedom that we are searching for out there in the mysterious, imagined future is actually right here and now. All we need to do is quiet our minds enough to feel it.  So stop expecting and simply start experiencing.