Let’s go on a little journey, shall we? See the little blue circle? This is me being a fan of my local soccer club MSV Duisburg. Blue and white are the club-colors, so it fits! There are plenty of other clubs. Most of them are much better at playing soccer, unfortunately. 😅 But that’s not what this is about! I hate them all and I love the MSV. It’s part of my identity!

See the orange circle? This is me giving up on soccer and turning all spiritual. Now Yoga it is! Forget about MSV Duisburg. Those days are past. Now it's time for grown-up stuff. Notice: I still hate all else. I just moved houses. The sense of separation and exclusivity remains the same.

Eventually I realize, that after doing all the fancy Yoga stuff, I never stopped liking soccer. So I get back to watching some games, only this time it's different. I simply enjoy the sport itself and don't care so much about who's winning or losing. This actually feels much different! More inclusive, integrated, whole.

Ken Wilber calls this process transcend & include. I have transcended my identification with one single soccer club and eventually shifted it to soccer as a game which includes my previous form of identification. This is fun! Can we push it further? How about transcending my identification with soccer as a game and shift it to sports/movement in general (including Yoga)?

This opens up a whole world of possibilities. Transcend & include. But where does it lead, ultimately? Spoiler alert: It leads to dis-identification with everything that I am not and rediscovering who/what I truly am (and have been all along). Life itself.

Now I can go back to MSV Duisburg or Yoga and enjoy it for what it is without getting entangled with it and experiencing all the negative side-effects of my identifications.

Disclaimer: I used the examples to make a point. Even though I grew up in Duisburg, I've never been a die-hard soccer fan and I don't claim that Yoga is (only) a sport. 🙏