The Hamilton + Yoga blog series explores the tenets of yoga philosophy through the lens of the Broadway musical, Hamilton. All Hamilton quotations included in these blog posts are the work of creative genius, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Please be aware that these essays include spoilers for the musical, Hamilton. If you haven’t seen or heard the musical, you can buy tickets here, listen to the music here, or read the libretto here, and then come back and enjoy!
Note: as an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases from the Amazon links included on this blog
“Take a break - run away with us for the summer, let’s go upstate!” - Eliza Hamilton, Hamilton (Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda)
2.46 Sthira sukham asanam, the postures of yoga should be a balance of effort and ease, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
The beginning of Act Two of Hamilton shows a frenzied, overworked Hamilton who barely has time for his wife, his children, or even the basic tasks of eating and sleeping. Hamilton’s drive to build his legacy and create a plan for consolidating America’s debt that will be agreeable to Congress leads him to become completely unbalanced physically, as well as mentally and emotionally.
We see his wife, Eliza, first imploring him to pay attention to his son, Philip (“take a break, there’s a little surprise before supper and it cannot wait...your son is 9 years old today, he has something he’d like to say”). It takes Eliza an enormous amount of effort just to get Hamilton to come downstairs and listen to his son; on his birthday no less!
She then asks him to go with them on a family vacation to upstate New York, to which Hamilton responds first with protestations, and ultimately, placating yet empty promises (“I’ve got so much on my plate...I’d love to go...I will try to get away”).
Later in the song, Angelica joins in with her sister to try to convince Hamilton to get away from his work and go on vacation with them. She uses persuasive pressure (“Alexander, I came all this way...I know we’ll miss your face...If you take your time, you will make your mark...take a break) but ultimately to no avail. In fact, throughout the musical, both Eliza and Angelica frequently act as sages, dispelling wisdom that often goes unheeded, to the detriment of those who fail to listen.
We quickly see the consequences of Hamilton’s refusal to rest, nurture personal relationships, or practice self-care. A run-down, sleep-deprived Hamilton, becomes so unbalanced that, according to his re-telling of it, it leaves him vulnerable to an affair with Maria Reynolds. (“I hadn’t slept in a week. I was weak, I was awake. You’ve never seen a bastard orphan more in need of a break. Longing for Angelica. Missing my wife. That’s when Miss Maria Reynolds walked into my life.”)
If only overworked Hamilton had listened to the advice of the important women in his life, or the wisdom of the yogic sages, he could have saved himself and his family from a lot of heartache and strife. In Chapter 2 verse 46 of the Yoga Sutras of Patajali, we are instructed to find a balance of effort and ease in our yoga postures. I often tell my yoga students that our yoga mat is like a practice space for the rest of our lives, each pose is a metaphor for our off-the-mat lives (idea credit/hat-tip to Darren Main for this concept). So of course when we are practicing the physical postures of yoga we should try to find a balance of effort and ease in our physical bodies. If you are having trouble breathing while holding chaturanga dandasana or your body is shaking while trying to keep your arms extended in a long-held Warrior II pose (virabhadrasana II), you should probably rest in Child’s pose (balasana) until your breath has become steady and your arms have recovered. Just like if you’re working 70 hours a week and having a hard time finding the time to see your significant other, you should probably schedule at least a weekend off (or better yet, use your vacation time for a longer break!) and a fun date night to re-calibrate your energy and your personal relationships.
Conversely, if you are always dropping into child’s pose after one breath in a challenging pose, you might want to see if you can stick it out for an extra 2-4 breaths; or if you’re sitting on the couch watching TV for hours every night, you might want to balance that with showing up at work from time to time or completing that personal project/goal that you keep putting off! However, in our ego-driven, “busy-ness culture” society, I’ve noticed that this other extreme is much less common.
What most of us lack is the time for self-care, for hitting our personal reset buttons, and the time to nurture our personal relationships (which is part of caring for ourselves, too! We are creatures that need love and connection. See: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
This sutra is all about balance; finding that sweet spot, the place of equilibrium, the “Goldilocks” place, or as the Buddhist’s say, “the middle path.” If Hamilton had been able to find this kind of balance and equilibrium in his personal and professional life, he may have been able to avoid the negative consequences of his extreme over-work.
Here are a few inquiries and practices that you can use to help embody sutra 2.46 that implores us to find balance in our bodies and our lives (and avoid Hamilton’s mistakes!):
Sit in a quiet spot, close your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths. Then ask yourself these questions:
What does balance mean to me?
Where in my life do I feel balanced right now?
Where could I bring more balance to my life?
You can write down your answers in a journal, or just reflect and then use the wisdom gained from your inquiry to find any needed counter-balance in your life.
2. Ensure you are getting an adequate amount of sleep each night. If you are staying up late to work (or even to play), you create an imbalance of energy which can lead to overeating, decline in personal relationships, and less-than-ideal decision making.
3. Our breath has the power to affect our bodies, our minds, and our emotions. When you are feeling off-kilter, you can use this balancing breath to re-calibrate:
Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana) – Find a comfortable seated position, and begin to pay attention to your breath. Bring your right hand up to your nose and place your right thumb against your right nostril, right pinky finger against your left nostril, and rest your 3 middle fingers in between the eyebrows at your third eye point. On your next inhale, close of the right nostril and inhale deeply through the left. At the top of your inhale, pause, then close off your left nostril and open the right as you exhale. At the bottom of your exhale, pause, then inhale through the right nostril. At the top of your inhale, pause, then close off your right nostril and exhale through the left. At the bottom of your exhale, pause, then start the cycle again. Repeat for several rounds. This breathing practice helps to bring balance to both sides of the body.
4. If you find yourself moving to the extreme of overwork (the tendency for most of us, including myself!), find balance by indulging in self-care like getting a massage, taking a restorative yoga class, or getting away for a relaxing day-trip or vacation (my personal recommendation is bucolic Berkeley Springs, WV).
5. Practice a yoga pose that helps you embody balance in your physical body. One suggestion is Tree Pose (Vrksasana)
Stand tall in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) with hands in front of your heart, find a steady gaze in front of you, and begin to bring your weight into your right leg. Bend your left knee and take the sole of the left foot onto the inside of the right leg, either above or below the knee. If you feel steady, raise the arms alongside the ears. Press your left foot into your right leg, and your right leg into your left foot to find balance and stability in the standing leg and lifted foot. Feel the crown of your head lengthening towards the sky, as you ground down through your standing foot - equal and opposite action. Find the balance in these opposing actions. Take 5 deep breaths in this pose, then repeat on the other side.
Wishing you a week filled with balance, self care, and the ability to take a break!
A. Creel
Andrea Creel is an avid musical theater fan, former professional actress, yoga philosophy nerd, and longtime yoga instructor with over 15 years of teaching experience. She loves singing, dancing, and sharing the benefits of yoga with others. Andrea combined her passion for singing & yoga as the lead singer of The Shaktis, DC’s all-female kirtan band, as well as performing featured vocals for the kirtan album Going Beyond featuring Adi Aham. She is the founder of Inspiration Yoga & Wellness and Shining Kids Yoga. When she’s not busy teaching yoga, Andrea loves singing along to the Hamilton cast recording with her son, Quinn, performing at open mics with her partner, Ben, and keeping up with the tweets of Lin-Manuel Miranda.