Combine post-election grumbles with the family holiday table

and you have the ingredients for conflict. Fortunately, if you practice yoga,

you also have the recipe to help ease the upset.

During 47 visits to the former USSR during the Cold War,

yoga teacher Rama Jyoti Vernon

developed a conflict resolution technique based on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

Combining yoga philosophy with deep listening (also taught in Nonviolent Communication),

Vernon guided dialogues between Soviets and Americans to build understanding

and trust. Vernon believes that the

dynamics of conflict are similar, whether they are between countries, among

family members, or within one’s self, and that yoga offers universal tools

for creating peace.

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Patanjali’s second sutra (“Yogas chitta vritti nirodha”) defines

yoga as calming the mental fluctuations or, in Sanskrit, vritti. Vritti is

related to the English word “revolve,” and we’ve all experienced how the mind

can turn things around. Conflict often begins when we

turn things around by mis-identifying with the ego self, a klesha or obstacle

that the sage Patanjali called asmita. Yoga teaches us discernment, so that

we are able to step outside asmita or “I-ness” and

gain perspective on the true self. In other words, as the ego begins to

recognize its patterns, we realize: “I am not my ego.”

This realization strengthens our ability to listen to

others, to bear witness even when their words dent the ego structure. This

equanimity or serenity is, as Sri Krishna teaches Arjuna (Bhagavad Gita

2:15), being alike in pleasure and pain. In a state of serenity, we do not

crave approval or fear rejection. We remain serene even when faced with

troublesome vrittis or mind waves, such as incorrect perception, imagination,

and memory.

According to sutra 1:12 (“Abhyasa vairagya bhyam tan

nirodha”), the ability to calm the vrittis comes through detachment and

practice. (For guided practice, Rama

Vernon, Ruth

Hartung, and others

teach yoga-based conflict resolution workshops around the U.S.) The yamas

and niyamas

are a brilliant foundation for developing discernment and equanimity, but each

of yoga’s eight limbs supports and strengthens the practitioner’s evolution

toward wholeness and peace. (Yes, even asana.)

So the next time Uncle Bob tries to push your buttons over

the cranberry sauce, draw on your yogic skills to listen for the underlying

vrittis. (But maybe don’t say to him "It’s all about the yoga!")

What are some ways you have resolved inner or outer

conflict through yoga?