Coping with Change: A Meditation on the Gunas

The dynamic interplay of the gunas--the three qualities of reality--can be seen throughout nature, such as in this budding tree.

Every time I start a post, a little voice in my head tells me that this is the time I'm going to have writer's block. Despite the fact that I've written many blog posts (not to mention two books), a pesky gremlin inside tells me I don't have it in me. And, truthfully, some times are harder than others. Some months, the blog flows out of my hands in three days, just like it did last month. Part of me wishes I could bottle up that feeling. If I could just repeat what happened in the last blog, I'd be a blog-writing machine. But something shifts--maybe I'm in a different headspace or I just don't relate to the topic as well. Whatever causes the mysterious change, the next month I write draft after draft before something lands and I feel the creative juices flowing. I write, read it the next day, decide it's trash and start over. Or I write a sentence and decide I simply must feed the dog or fold the laundry or floss my teeth.

Then there are blogs like this one, where half the month has passed by before I even start a draft. In fact, the only way I could jolt myself out of not writing was to write about how difficult writing can be! But I've been here before, and the block eventually passes if I am patient. The practice of writing a blog for me now is really a mindfulness practice. It's about the process as much as it is the final product. If I'm stuck, well, that's part of the process. Forcing or pushing only prolongs the feeling of being stuck.

In many ways the very topic of this month, the gunas, held the key to my struggle. In Ayurveda and yoga, the gunas are said to be the constituents of reality. And the first law of the gunas is that every aspect of reality is in constant flux. So while I endured a short blip of writer's block, I knew it would eventually come to an end, and something else (hopefully writing) would emerge.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning: The concept of the gunas comes from Samkhya philosophy, which states that every object, person, thought, and emotion is made up of some combination of the five elements, according to yoga therapist Amy Wheeler. The five elements express themselves through three qualities, or gunas: sattva (balance and harmony), rajas (movement and energy) and tamas (passive and stable).

The Laws of the Gunas

Yoga scholar David Frawley uses the metaphor of times of day to explain the relationship of these three qualities: Sattva is like daytime, tamas is like nighttime, and rajas is dusk and dawn. The first law of the gunas--the law of alternation, as it's formally called--can be seen in the transition of these phases. Day turns to dusk which gives way to night and transitions into dawn. The cycle goes round and round. Or consider my writing process: I was stuck and couldn't write (tamas). So I worked up the energy to write about the difficulty of writing (rajas). And that eventually led to a flow of words that I didn't have to work so hard to generate (sattva).

Change Is Hard

That things are always in flux--from the change of the seasons to our bodies as they age to the thoughts in our heads--is a fact with which many of us struggle. I know I do. For instance, I was pleased this morning when I walked into my living room and noticed that an impossibly bright red canna lily bloom had burst out of its stock. I excitedly ushered the plant out to the large turquoise vase on my front stoop. Thanks to sattva guna, it will give the neighborhood and me a raucous display of color for the duration of the spring and summer. I can assist sattva guna by providing my lily the proper sun, temperature, plant food and water. I want to keep those blooms around as long as I can, and I'll be sad when they come to an end in late summer-early fall.

Wanting to cultivate and sustain the fruits of sattva guna (like the bright red bloom of a flower) is natural. In fact, nurturing sattva is what many yoga practices are about. I do yoga asana and other exercises to maintain a strong, flexible body. I recently did an Ayurvedic cleanse with the support of my awesome yoga teacher, Jeanie Manchester. The hard work of doing a cleanse is an example of rajasic sattva--I had to work hard (rajas) to create and follow the cleanse schedule, but then it brought a lot of balance and health (sattva).

But as the first law of the gunas dictates, nothing lasts forever. So even as I practice yoga and do cleanses, my body continues to age. As a result, the days of putting both of my feet behind my head and pressing up into an arm balance (viranchyasana A) are long gone. And those beautiful canna blooms on my front stoop will eventually fade. So how do we deal with these inevitable changes, and our resistance to them? Before answering that question, let's take a look at another aspect of the gunas.

The Power of Both/And

The second law of the gunas is the law of continuity, which is essentially the law of inertia: something in motion tends to stay in motion, and something at rest tends to stay at rest. For instance, once the dawn turns into day daylight sticks around for a while. Once dusk transitions to night, darkness persists for a time.

We all know about these laws. We know and expect that the sun will rise and set every day (the first law). And we know that day and night last longer than dusk and dawn (the second law). But we have preferences. Some of us prefer day over night. Some people love summer more than winter, or fall more than spring. Preferences are natural, and we don't need to get rid of them. Naturally, I want the canna blooms to stick around, and my body to stay healthy and vibrant for as long as possible. I'd rather not have one last snow storm (we sometimes have those in May in Colorado), and I really wish I didn't have arthritis in my left big toe, which makes it difficult to hop into chataranga first thing in the morning.

Other preferences are more substantial and important to our overall wellbeing and quality of life: preferences for freedom and independence, the right and ability to express ourselves, a peaceful society and equal treatment come to mind. I live in the United States, where currently people of all political persuasions are concerned about these issues. We are in a very rajasic phase in our country's history--a time of tectonic shifts. When big shifts occur in a society, as they are here in the US, it can be unclear where these shifts are leading. Are we headed for what Frawley calls rajasic tamas, where ignorance fuels aggression and corruption (1999, p. 31)? Or, can we instead use this change to fuel rajasic sattva, which Frawley says is "the active or transformative force of sattva . . . ever seeking greater growth and unfoldment" (1999, p. 30)?

We can get lost in our attachment to our preferences. We may think, "This is not how things should be?" or we can feel righteously attached and think, "This is exactly how things should be!" But yoga and the gunas teach us that this kind of black and white thinking is being aggressive with reality. The truth is much more subtle and complex--and, paradoxically, simple and straightforward. When we can embrace a both/and perspective, more options open up and a more creative path can be forged.

The Power of Both/And

It's times like these when I think of the Bhagavad Gita (an Indian epic based in Samkhya philosophy). The entire volume is a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield right before Arjuna is to go to war against his cousins, uncles and friends. He is paralyzed with foreboding and indecision. How can he wage war against his own family and friends?

I can totally relate to Arjuna's paralysis. When I am faced with a big change, I feel knocked off my center. The old rules don't apply. Whether that change is as small as the writer's block I faced at the beginning of this blog, or the sea change happening in my home country, change can cause confusion about what to do, including whether to do anything at all.

Krishna's main message to Arjuna is that understanding why and when to act is essential to living a peaceful life at all levels (which is not the same as conflict-free). He says that Arjuna must act out of duty and follow his prescribed path. Arjuna's predicament is a classic both/and situation: He was a warrior who needed to find peace about going to war. We all have a path, also called our dharma. When we understand what that is it can give us a clearer understanding of the why and the when with regards to our own actions and decisions.

But how do we develop the kind of understanding that Krishna is speaking of? Most of us don't have a clearly prescribed role like Arjuna. (And his role as a warrior is more of a metaphor doing battle with the fickle mind than that of a literal soldier). How do we develop discernment for when we should act, and when we should refrain from acting? In my lived experience, mindfulness and meditation hold the keys to my own understanding. I've noticed that when I'm mindful, my actions and decisions feel clearer. I come from a place of knowing. And when I'm not clear I feel more accepting of the ambiguity, and am better able to pause before acting.

Walking the Tightrope of Determination and Acceptance

Arjuna's resistance to act at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita is an expression of tamas guna. But then Krishna tells Arjuna to act with enthusiasm and determination, which is an expression of rajas guna. Arjuna eventually makes peace with his need to act and summons the beginning of the battle, a sattvic action. But interestingly the final take-away from this classic Samkhya text is that we need to transcend the gunas to be totally free. That may seem contradictory, but examples abound. When I lovingly care for my canna lily but accept its eventual demise, I enjoy it more fully, understanding it is precious because it's temporary. When I had a bit of writer's block, I accepted it knowing it would pass. Finally, when it comes to the big changes happening in the US, I walk a tightrope of action and acceptance. I give and receive support from those around me--my clients, my friends, my family. And I sit for meditation daily to generate insight and acceptance. The way out is the way through, as I sometimes tell my clients.

If you're struggling to cope with change in your life, no matter how big or small, and feel paralyzed or uncertain of what to do, the first step is simply to become present. Start where you are. You can do this by taking a walk and mindfully noticing five things you hadn't seen before. Or, you can stay put and practice the 5-4-3-2-1 Mindfulness exercise on our Rhythm Yoga Therapy YouTube Channel.

As you become mindful, notice which of the gunas seems to dominate your experience at present. Are you feeling lethargic and unmotivated (a touch of tamas)? Are you feeling anxious and restless (rajas)? Or perhaps you feel a certain balance between determination and acceptance. If you feel unmotivated, try our 7-minute Yoga for Motivation I video. If you're feeling anxious, try Yoga for Stress II. Lastly, if you're in a sattvic state of balance, you can cultivate it further with Sa Ta Na Ma, or a meditation of your choice.