Breath and Butterflies

Yoga Sutra 1.26 says sa esa purvesamapi guruh kalenanavacchedat: God is the ultimate teacher, beyond time and space. How does the mention of the word God affect you? To some it is off putting, others readily embrace it. The yoga Sutras of Patanjali are a collection of practical tools to skillfully navigate the human condition and overcome obstacles leading to liberation of consciousness. In chapter one, sutras 1.23-27 expound on the benefits of connecting with the supreme life force energy some translations refer to as God, though, a particular god is not suggested. It is left up to the reader to define this concept for themselves.

Every autumn, over one hundred million monarch butterflies migrate from northeastern North America over 4,000 miles down to the conifers of south-central Mexico. They make this north-to-south journey to winter over, mate and lay eggs.  In late February, the new butterflies emerge from their chrysalis, and the springtime northerly migration begins. The south-to-north journey takes three generations to complete. Each generation lives for 4 – 5 weeks until the third generation returns to the ancestral homeland in the north. The special fourth generation lives for 7 – 8 months to make the southern journey. Despite the generational gap, the monarchs know where to go and how to get there. They navigate through drastically changing weather patterns and variations in landscape due to human development, yet, the butterflies are guided to their destination and back again. What is it that guides them? An anthropomorphic view is that they have some sort of internal compass or clock; an instrument of sorts that humans use to know when and where to go. From a religious perspective, it may be that there is some sort of higher power leading them to their destiny. In either case, the explanation is that there is an outside or separate force in play, which negates the interconnection and oneness of the contours of the earth with the flutter of wings. What is suggested by author David Abram in his article Creaturely Migrations on a Breathing Planet, is that the butterflies are guided by the pulse of the earth. They are not separate from it, more like an inhalation or exhalation, a natural rhythm that takes them where they need to be. Just as our breath brings oxygen to the blood that is then circulated through the tissues, organs, and systems on inhale and the contraction of the respiratory diaphragm expels the breath and waste products and toxins with every exhale, this creative force that animates us, also animates the earth and all of its creatures. This seasonal reciprocity is a kind of breathing, like the biosphere cleansing and flexing its various organs to replenish itself. Just as our breath and blood are not separate from us, all species on the earth are an integral part of a greater whole, an expression of the animate earth. The butterflies remember this. We need to be reminded of our animal bodies and somatic relationship to the creative pulse of the universe.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali were recorded thousands of years ago, but are still pertinent today, as a reminder of how we can re-member ourselves and realize the state of yoga: union of ourselves with that creative life-force energy we can call whatever makes sense to each of us.