Awakening Your Inner Strength

Building resilience and strength with a heart-centered approach.

Pictured: Day lilies and late summer goldenrod blooming in the Enchanted Edible Forest where I learned about permaculture and food forests. In these sorts of gardens, plants are selected and placed so that they don’t compete with each other. Sometimes, plantings can also support each other, like how clover fixes nitrogen for its neighbors. Dani, the creator of this edible forest, found that chives and daylilies grow well together – a delicious and lush combination. Photos by Zoe Chan. 

We can’t embark on a month of transformation without addressing perhaps the most visible aspect of making change – strength and resilience. Within a discussion or self, you may know these as willpower, grit, or determination. This week we will take a closer look at strength and view it through the lenses of yogic philosophy as well as the Daoist tradition.

A Vedic Take on Strength and Resilience

When thinking about strength, the heart and digestion may not be the first thing that comes to mind. Last week, we discussed how heart-opening poses can support your journey with compassion and acceptance but did you know that the heart can also be a source of strength? In Sanskrit, “Anahata,” the heart chakra, means “unhurt” or “unbeaten.”  This certainly doesn’t bring to mind a fragile and sensitive center of emotion. If you’re interested, here is a TED Talk on why loving can be the most courageous thing we do. 

Ojas: The Honey-Like Essence of Strength and Resilience

Another way of understanding strength and resilience is through the concept of Ojas. This is one of the Three Subtle Forces including prana or life energy, and tejas, which is the energy of transformation and metabolism. Ojas is sometimes described as the body’s natural honey and is the refined essence of all the nutrients we take in from eating. After all seven tissues are nurtured through food, what is leftover is added to a sort of “vitality savings account.” In general, Ojas powers the immune system and helps us to maintain balance in the face of change. It also helps make us more resistant to the negativity of others and has more specific effects in different parts of the body. When there is healthy ojas on the heart for example, you may feel greater love and compassion. 

You can nourish Ojas through your diet by incorporating ghee, milk, rice, dates, seeds, and whole grains. According to Ayurvedic principles, it is recommended that you eat these foods warm and freshly prepared to balance out the cooling, sweet qualities of these ingredients. Another way to cultivate Ojas is by practicing gratitude and loving kindness, to utilize the power of mindfulness to transform suffering. Perhaps you can find a little room for more love and sweetness as you make progress towards your goals this month. 

A permaculture approach to gardening works with nature, resulting in more resilient and diverse landscapes. Pictured: Some of the first peaches ripening amongst medicinal yarrow and other herbs and flowers. Notice how the soil is covered with wood chips where there isn’t any vegetation – this helps the soil maintain moisture and prevents weeds from growing! Permaculture is all about working smarter, not harder.

The Daoist Perspective: Flexibility as Strength

Imagine a summer storm or a hurricane – the solid trunks of oak trees, which make them ideal for climbing and support their upright stance, have no give, and it’s common to see uprooted trees after a major storm. On the other hand, a single blade of grass can easily be torn off by a child’s hand to braid into bracelets or fashion into a simple whistle. But in a hurricane, this pliability becomes its strength, allowing it to bend in whatever direction the wind blows. That is to say, resilience is related to flexibility and flexibility is a form of strength. 

To be sure, dedication to a practice is key to lasting and effective change, but these perspectives from yoga and Daoism may support you in times where you have to let go of negative thoughts that can hold you back. Physical activities like running or hot yoga are just as much mind games as they are physical challenges. For example, has the name of the Sui class “Wild Core Flow” intimidated you from signing up? What kind of thoughts come up when your body starts to tire or you’re less flexible today than in your last practice? 

We hope that the ideas in this week’s discussion or strength and resilience, as well as your time on the mat, can help you to see that growth and progress can come in many forms. 

Pictured: Whimsical elderflower blooms that will result in a fall harvest of indigo-colored elderberries, known for their immune-system-boosting properties. These tiny flowers attract pollinators with delicate features, like wasps. When facing a potato pest infestation, Dani planted some elderberry shrubs near the affected crops to attract the parasitic wasps that used these potato-loving bugs as hosts – a natural and very effective remedy.