Sarah Powers: Different Doorways
from the article "Still Mind, Moving Body"
by Andrea Miller
Shambhala Sun,
June/July 2008
 When
she was in her early twenties, Sarah Powers earned a graduate degree in
transpersonal psychology that required her to learn a physical discipline
with spiritual roots. Deciding to study yoga, she felt defeated throughout
most of the first class. Powers, who is cofounder of Metta Journeys, which
offers yoga retreats to women and children in developing countries, explains,
"Being young, healthy, and athletic, I had assumed the practice wouldn't
be a problem, but I was brought down to my blood, sweat, and tears nature,
and halfway through I decided yoga wasn't for me."
Something changed for her, however, when at the end she laid down for
shavasana (the motionless "corpse pose" that concludes most
yoga sessions). She experienced a distinct and unusual peace that until
that moment she'd only read about. "I pinpointed it as an absence
of longing," she says. "There was clarity underneath that joy.
I thought, I have to come back. It's going to be hard but hard doesn't
mean bad—just like easy doesn't mean right."
Powers was also introduced to Buddhist philosophy through her graduate
studies. "I read Jack Kornfield's and Frances Vaughn's work, and
I felt they were so articulate about their own psychology—both the
beautiful, insightful sides and the broken aspects. The psychological
training they'd had in university gave them language and helped them to
help other people, but the practices forged the pathways."
As for her own path of discovery, Powers says that bringing yoga as a
physical discipline together with her more metaphysical readings seemed
like an easier combination to start with than just sitting down and facing
her mind. "While doing asana and Yin pranayama [yogic breathing]
practice," she continues, "I was readying myself for meditation."
Then, when she was ready, Powers sought out a Buddhist meditation teacher,
and now—decades later—her yoga and Buddhism are integrated,
as described in her upcoming book, Insight Yoga: Integrating Yin/Yang
Yoga and Buddhist Meditation. "Buddhists are yogis," she says.
"They may or may not be interested in moving their bodies in certain
patterns to unleash pranic flow, but if they are, it accelerates their
discovery and insight." On the other hand, says Powers, the yoga
world may be too interested in feeling vibrant in the body and not interested
enough in freeing the mind. Yet, she adds, "Yoga focused only on
shape serves a purpose for a certain level of development. Down the line,
it will tend to change someone who doesn't even know they're being changed.
"Coming through the doorway of the body, people eventually realize
they have a mind that needs attention and, coming through the doorway
of the mind, they eventually realize they have a body that is going to
be either an obstacle or a support. Both directions point to their opposite,
but more people become freer with just mind-based practices than become
freer with just body-based practices. There are more pitfalls for body-based
people. There's a tendency to do body practices to stay thin, have tight
buns, and get attention for doing certain postures—egocentric motivations
stemming from not knowing oneself truly. Eventually, as a yoga community
we tap into deeper truths, but it's slower if they're not in the yoga
room to start with. And they need to be there, because it's not really
yoga if it doesn't involve the heart and mind."
Read entire article (PDF 400KB)
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