The Five Acts

The Five Acts, or the Five Act of Shiva (Siva), is one important yoga philosophy. It is how everything in the universe operates. All creations of this physical cosmos go through five stages, which are: creation, dissolution, concealment, maintenance, and lastly opening to grace.

Don't fret if this seems to be hard to digest for you. Think of the change of seasons, how plants grow from seeds, sprout in spring, flourish in summer, turn colours and defoliate in autumn, and wither in winter. It is the full cycle of all living things, yet in the meantime, new seeds are planted, and new creations are happening. Until next spring, the whole landscape comes back to alive.

Another example is our thinking process. When we have an idea or a thought, the beginning of the thought forming is creation. Then we might lost the thought or have too many thoughts, then the idea becomes blurry or even gets forgotten. Dissolution and concealment are happening during this stage. Yet, the thought we have has never been lost. It is always there, stored in the back of our mind, our deep subconscious, where it maintains. You might retrieve your earlier thought and come up with something even more integral or relevant to what you really want to express. That is when we open to the grace of endless possibility rather than holding onto one fading thought, the last stage leads to a new beginning, new creation.

Saying this much, how does that related to your yoga practice? As we move and live into our life, it can be helpful to apply "the Five Act" principle in our day-to-day experience, relationships, professional life, and any aspects you can think of.

In the time of winter, we follow the clock of Nature, and we are collectively in the stage of embracing the universal grace. How that can show up in our yoga practice is the famous term of "less is more." Honour the power of stillness and just be. Take some introspective time for yourself, schedule time for journaling, reading, or anything that nurture your soul.

Prioritize time for self-care.

Our time on the yoga mat is extremely powerful.