Dec 18th, 2009
Christmas, Yoga, Oxfam Unwrapped
What does Christmas mean for yogis? And who am I to even answer this question? Well, first off I can only speak for myself. Other yogis are free to interpret and celebrate as they choose.
For me Christmas is all about children. Until my own little bundle of joy came into the world I had honestly lost all interest in Christmas aside from a few days off between December and the New Year. My favourite days around this time of year were the winter solstice, representing the true beginning of the New Year and the right time to start making plans, resolutions and affirmations for the following twelve months. The regular New Year as a time to, well basically do the same thing again but this time on holidays.
My family is divided about halfway on the rest of Christmas. One or two are devotees of gift buying and Christmas celebrations, the rest stoically wait for the whole season to pass by and be over with as soon as possible.
For me, the aspect of Christmas I dislike the most is the ritual around gift buying, giving, receiving and opening. Not for children, whose tastes are more simple and honest, but for adults the cost, the difficulty in choosing and shopping and then the awkwardness of giving and receiving is nothing more than a costly and time consuming chore with little redeeming value.
As far back as the age of 12 or 13 the whole ritual struck me as fundamentally misguided and being a Christian at the time (fresh from confirmation) I thought what a good idea it would be if we all in our family just made a donation to charity instead. Needless to say the idea was ridiculed and thrown out without much debate.
This year, many, many years later, I decided to go ahead and do this anyway. The Oxfam Presents Unwrapped (http://www.oxfamirelandunwrapped.com/) campaign seemed to me the ideal way to do this. Although in hindsight I would have liked to contribute something to those affected by the flood in Ireland this year, but the thought came too late. I have no idea how my family will react to the small, unasuming cards they will receive informing them that chickens or a goat has been purchased on their behalf this Christmas, but they are all good people so I presume it will go the right way.
From my point of view I can’t imagine a more holistic, yogic way of celebrating Christmas, which is, after all, the giving season. With yoga being as mainstream as it is today there are plenty of options for people to celebrate Christmas in New Age, non-Christian and possibly `yogic’ ways. Taking yoga holidays in the sun, meditation courses, angel courses etc are all fantastic (I’m not knocking any of these things in any way), but lets face it, these things are for you, giving to yourself, and yoga, for me, in essence, is about becoming more selfless, less attached to the material (while not rejecting it) and developing a more compassionate way of life. Giving a gift of a sustainable lifestyle to someone very far away who you will never meet is as yogic as it comes and will bring benefits to the giver that all the stretching on a yoga mat, no matter how beautiful the setting, will ever achieve.
My advice this year, if you want to live the ideals of yoga, is to give a gift that really matters to someone, rather than just clogging Santa’s stocking with more future landfill!
Here’s to Christmas, the giving season and may you all have a merry one whichever way you choose to celebrate!
Om Shanti,
Liam Byrne
Yoga Teacher and Director at the Gorey Yoga Studio, John St. Gorey, Co. Wexford
T: 086 408 2428
