KULA AND SPIRITUAL FRIENDSHIP

Buddhists have a term "kalyana-mitra" which means "beautiful friend." This beautiful friend is the one who uplifts you all the time. No matter how bad your day might be, how lonely or frustrated you might feel, this beautiful friend says something so wise that it shifts your mind instantly from the negativity and judgment and lets you focus to the preciousness of the moment or the thing said.

If you are on the path of yoga (a.k.a. path of self-growth) the most likely to happen is that you might forget. You might forget how far you have come on the way... For instance... you struggle in a pose that should happen easily right 'cause you have been working steadily for it... but damn... it is not happening and you are ready to quit. But can you notice all the information that registers into the data of your cells in the meanwhile, which one day all of a sudden, will manifest itself surprisingly, perhaps not in a yoga pose but in an intelligently managed crisis situation at work or at love.

Well... if you have a beautiful friend, he or she will remind you this. This person may not be your best friend but he/she is on the same path for sure.

Beautiful friends also remind you that on the path of self-growth there will be obstacles that actually serve you to push your limits so you end up discovering your hidden potentials. These friends remind you that your situation, however desperate, is not uniquely yours... that you can offer compassion towards others in similar struggle. Or these friends simply let you feel whatever is pouring from your heart and you know that it is okay to express yourself honestly in their company. Again... it is not what they say or do, but how they make you feel.

I found a very humble description of mine of the term "kula" in my earliest yoga philosophy notes: It is a community of the heart. It is a group of like-minded people, people who support each other. It is a group in which you choose to participate because of all the things mentioned above.

Kula is a community of "kalyana-mitras" - beautiful friends.

If you practice yoga you are gaining a tool to empower yourself. Yoga is about having choices. You can choose your kula, people who uplift you. People who understand the immediacy of life and tell you to live it shamelessly. People who take you back to the path whenever you are confused. People who offer plain laughter but also know the place for an eye contact. There is a common saying: "You become the company you keep, so keep good company."

After all, it feels so good to stretch each other's arms and plug them into the shoulder sockets before the yoga class begins...