Every time we meet an experience, a whole process is set into motion. We process sensory impressions and generate thoughts, doubts, and alternatives. We discern, discriminate, judge, and make decisions. We identify the experience as 'mine' or think, 'This is happening to me.' This process helps us navigate the world, but it can become detrimental when our judgements are conditioned by habitual patterns that do not serve us.
prasannatā means gladness with a sense of clarity and serenity. It is a gladness that we recognize rather than manufacture when we meet experience in a less reactive way. The same mental processes may still occur, but we relate to them differently.
When we do a standing forward bend, we may feel a deep hamstring stretch. We recognize the sensation and judge it as pleasant or unpleasant. We might remember that our hamstrings have been tight for a while and feel frustrated. Then we might give up or push even harder to deepen the pose.
Now imagine that you could still feel the deep stretch in your hamstrings but relate to the sensation differently. You recognize that you can bend your knees, lengthen your torso forward instead of pushing it toward your legs, place your hands on blocks, and breathe fully. The stretch remains, but you are no longer struggling against it. In that clarity and serenity, a subtle sense of gladness may become apparent.
As we practice this week, remember that we are not trying to manufacture gladness. Instead, we are invited to recognize how it may reveal itself through the way we move, breathe, and respond to our experience.
Breathe easy,
Blessings,
Jorge Nihāl
prasannatā, Gladness
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