Kleshas: Dvesa: Dodging Distaste

The kleshas are the veils that obstruct who we are from who we think we are. 

They are the blinding misperceptions that keep us lost, lonely, discontent, and disconnected. Dvesa is the distaste. It is the disliking of people, places, things, feelings, and so on. When we are in the delusion of dvesa we are usually running away, hiding, ignoring, and numbing. Dvesa and raga, or liking and disliking, are addictive, and they both hold the immense power of deception. The justifications made in the name of liking and disliking, loving and hating, agreeing and disagreeing have caused a colosal amount of heartache and more blood shed than we could ever come to terms with. 

We do have preferences, and our preferences certainly drive the course of our life, helping us make decisions about who we are in relation with, where to live, how we dress, what we eat, and what we do for work. I don't believe it's the actual preference that is the veil. The veil is when I believe I am the preference or the non-preference in this case, and when I allow this to color my perspective so much so that my thoughts and actions are blindly driven by them. When I miss out on seeing my family because I refuse to go where the weather is cold or I ignore my weakening body because squats and pull ups are hard, this is dvesa.

We are going to experience disliking, disagreeing, even hating. These are all external affairs of which cause internal conflict of which results in unconscious reactions, unhelpful habits, and ultimately disease. This is why the practice of yoga leads us inside of ourselves. First it is necessary to feel the feeling of the confliction, the hurt, the pain, the jealously, the rage, the insecurity, the unworthiness, and the injustice. Confronting and feeling what we are running from is the antidote. We no longer have to run, if we are not scared of what we are going to feel. Now we can empower ourselves with our yoga practices to know that these are temporary feelings, that left unfelt, will smother the light of our divinity. 

The cure to both raga and dvesa is the present moment. When right here and right now are both the journey and the destination, we can stop running to and from, and simply make our arrival the eternal antidote. Wherever you go, there you are my dear.

Gracias Beautiful Human,

May these words remind you that life is always right now. May you trust in this now moment as the most powerful place to be. May you know how much your presence means to everyone.

Blessings beauty,

Andrea Dawn