• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Pranasana Yoga

  • Home
  • About
    • About Matt
    • About Dorna
    • About Pranasana Yoga
    • Our Philosophy
    • Video Testimonials
    • Testimonials
    • Ask A Question
    • Our Client List
    • Gallery
  • Classes
    • Live Online Yoga Schedule
    • Face To Face Yoga Classes
    • Recorded Yoga Classes
    • Subscribers’ Offer
  • One to One
    • Session Prices
    • Yoga One to One
    • Tai Chi (Taiji) / Qi Gong / Nei Gong One to One
    • Massage
    • Holistic Wellness Coaching
    • Embodied Sound & Speech
  • Events
    • Yoga Workshops & Retreats
    • Corporate Yoga – Workplace Yoga
    • Schools
  • Yoga Teacher Support
  • Writings
    • Blog
    • Published Articles
    • Latest Vlog
  • Contact
  • Shop

What Is The Ego?

September 5, 2008

Get rid of your ego, drop the ego, detach from the ego, you seem to hear these words repeatedly, by many spiritual masters.

But what is it? How can you get rid of it? They also tell you that you can’t get rid of it, because the act of wanting to get rid of it is the act of the ego itself.

Hmmm? What can you do?

What is the ego?

The ego is a collection of definitions and concepts that have been created through one’s life experience. You have experienced the life that led you to form these definitions and concepts and therefore you identify yourself to be the collection of these concepts and definitions. An example would be: Kindness is good. This concept has been formed because you have either experienced a form of kindness that gave you pleasure, or saw the sparkle in someone’s eyes when you acted out of kindness. Now, you like to experience more of it and act kindly and call yourself a kind person…

The ego is the sum of all your beliefs: I am kind, selfish, violent, addicted, fat, pretty, ugly….Life is cruel, kind, beautiful, unbearable….People are loving, pretentious, jealous, beautiful….I should be kind and loving….I should be tough and strong…I should show my emotions…I should hide my sadness and anger…

The collection of these beliefs is what makes the ego, what makes up “me” and differentiate “me” from others.

We tend to treat these beliefs like Gods, we protect them, we defend them and we fight for them. Why? This is because we identify with them. Because we believe they are what make us who we are and anyone that threatens them in any way either, by challenging them or judging them, becomes our enemy.

What does dropping the ego mean? It means dropping these beliefs that seem to bind you in your habits and patterns and obstruct your vision to unlimited possibilities. You ego, is small, it is limited, it is a box that has only access to limited resources. Dropping it means opening yourself to life completely, without restricting yourself to your personal experiences. In that you have access to infinite and limitless resources. It means opening yourself, your mind to the point that you can see that you and I are one, despite our differences. It means embracing these differences, and seeing that what you think is different in fact isn’t. What you think the ‘other’ is, is who you are. (It means seeing that in reality there is no duality, because what is, contains what is not.)

Dropping the ego doesn’t mean condemning it. Getting rid of it doesn’t mean literally do without it. It means allowing it to dissolve in the oneness of all. By keeping the ego, and protecting all our beliefs and concepts, we are like a drop of water in the ocean that insists on being a drop and resists seeing that it is the ocean. It is scared to let go of its identity, because it believes without it, it won’t function. You will function and you will function in harmony with everything else and not against it.

Everyone around you plays a role in helping you dissolve the ego in the oneness of all there is. Have you noticed how frustrated or angry you become when somebody tells you what they think of you and it is in total opposition to what you believed yourself to be. It is as though they have threatened your survival. In fact they have! They have threatened the survival of who you think you are. Let’s ask ourselves instead of attacking the other mentally, whether what they’re saying is true, it may or it may not. But by opening yourself to the possibility that they may be right you’re showing yourself the willingness to transcend concepts and ideas that bind you to the small identity you give yourself. You are much bigger than you can imagine. You do contain all that there is! There is nothing, absolutely nothing outside of you, that isn’t inside. Scary as this might be, our spiritual freedom from the ego and its hold on us lies in this truth.

As Marianne Williamson puts it so beautifully:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Blog, Miscellaneous

Dorna Djenab

Previous Post
Next Post

Footer

CONTACT US

matt@pranasanayoga.com
dorna@pranasanayoga.com
01707 643447
07974 340 685 (Matt)
07961 479 878 (Dorna)
19 Church Lane EN6 4NX Herts UK

FOLLOW US

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Sign Up For Our Newsletter




  • Dorna on Calm
  • British Wheel Of Yoga Teacher
  • Independent Yoga Network
  • The Life Centre
  • Register of Exercise Professionals
  • CIMSPA

USEFUL LINKS

Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Yoga Links

© 2022 Pranasana Yoga. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies to give you the best experience on our site. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies as stated in our privacy policy. I agree Privacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT