Apurva – Yoga with Jenn

According to Patanjali, the last way of being is through remembering. Out of all the impressions you get in a day, the ones with strong emotions attached are the ones that stick. You might know someone who seems stuck in the past, always reminiscing about the good old days. This “old” attitude isn’t about age but about being attached to the past. This attachment might come from wanting to hold on to what’s gone or from trying to push away an old memory. Either way, it can drain your energy, leaving little for the present. Even obsessing over the future often ties back to past experiences, since your predictions are usually based on what happened before.

On the other hand, a “young” attitude is about seeing the freshness of each moment and responding with intelligence and grace. It’s not about thinking memories are bad or that you need to erase them. Memories are a part of your history and give you perspective. Instead, think about how you relate to your memories. Do you control them, or do they control you? Can you have a healthy relationship with your memories, and what would that look like?

One way to explore this is by looking at the emotional charge of a memory. Since emotions help create memories, understanding the emotional imprint can give you insight. Take a memory that’s important to you. Focus on the details, like what happened and who was there. Then, shift your focus to the emotional aspect. What emotions does this memory bring up? Do these emotions make you feel good, or do they drain your energy? When these emotions come up, do you push the memory away or hold on to it tightly? Can you just let these emotions flow through you until they fade, instead of keeping them bottled up?

As you practice this, notice any patterns in the emotional charges of your deep memories. Do these patterns suggest unresolved emotions? Reflecting on these memories, do they give you insights into your current attitudes and choices? Can you make peace with your memories and your past by letting go of their emotional charge, whether positive or negative? Recognize that past events have shaped who you are now. Accept that you probably made the best choices you could at each point in your past, even if you’d choose differently now.

Om Hari Om 🙏