While staying at an ashram in India, all of my group discussions with the Swami (these discussions are called satsang) revolved around the idea of non-attachment, or Aparigraha.
Non-attachment is the act of disconnecting from your emotions, experiences, and material objects. Basically, you can do this by letting go of your expectations. (More on this in a later post!)
Aparigraha is one of Patanjali’s four yamas. The word “detachment” has negative connotations of passivity, indifference, and emotional withdrawal. However, non-attachment doesn’t require you to close off your heart – rather, it requires your heart to be completely open.
Here are some benefits of practicing non-attachment:
- Reduce anxiety. By managing your expectations of how things should be, you’ll find that anxiety no longer has as strong of a grip on you.
- Find more joy in your personal relationships. Releasing expectations of how your friends and loved ones should behave opens space in your heart to experience love and compassion. Of course, this does not mean you must tolerate being treated poorly – as with everything, there is a balance.
- Gain the ability to manifest anything you want in life. Anxiously grasping at anything – people, things, ideas – only pushes them away. Energetically unclenching will allow you to gracefully attract the things you desire.
- Experience deep contentment. Unconditional trust in the universe and in yourself opens your heart and creates an experience of ultimate contentment.
I’ll dive deeper into how to practice non-attachment in a later post – if you want to get started now, I’ll leave you with one main tip: non-attachment begins in the heart. To learn more about your Heart Chakra, take a look at my Introductory Guide to the Seven Chakras.
