Sutra 1.33 The four locks and keys. By cultivating the attitudes in the four locks and keys, II can help to lower the stress she feels when dealing with people and situations she cannot avoid.

I will ask the client to rate her level of stress, energy and motivation on a scale of 1-10. We will meet once (or twice depending on our schedules) within a week’s time to talk about the teaching and to see if reframing her interactions helps her stress and energy level. At the end of the week she will note any changes to those metrics.

II is 47 and female. She takes Covid seriously but works with school administrators and extracurricular teachers who don’t. One child was exposed right before she was scheduled to get the vaccine. With 4 young kids, this is ongoing and very stressful. A new job requires more sitting and she has knee pain. The stress and pain resulted in less exercise and stress snacking. She gained weight and became prediabetic with medication. She wants to reduce her stress, increase her energy and motivation.

We talked about different teachings she could use to address her stress including Pratipaksha Bhavana and practices of non-attachment, being a witness and meditation. We both agreed that the teachings of the Locks and Keys would work the best. I had given real life examples of how each key could work with each lock to keep peace of mind and lower stress. She agreed to practice it over the next week. She rated her level of stress, energy and motivation at the beginning and at the end of the week.

II lives in a small town in PA where many people are unvaccinated and don’t wear masks. The schools’ administrators are lax in reporting cases. Hence, parents may not know if their child was exposed and may be exposing vulnerable family.
I used the Locks and Keys from Raja. II had been experiencing stress in her interactions with others related to how they were handling Covid. She had been upset when, after a notice of exposure, ALL the girls in her daughter’s dance class tested positive, yet had been rehearsing unmasked–soon before her daughter was scheduled to get her first shot. Practicing the teaching allowed her to reframe things and see that getting mad at the parents wouldn’t help. But she could concentrate on supporting her daughter in staying healthy now and maintaining her equanimity. By controlling her reaction to her present circumstances, she was able to reduce her stress.

After giving her the teachings to practice, we met again and talked about whether or not it helped to reduce her stress. It did.

Her daughter was in quarantine from a Covid exposure at her dance class. When her quarantine was about to end, her school’s class went into quarantine too. Rather than get upset, II found compassion for the family who was positive, as they were doing all they could in a bad situation. She felt bad that they were doing “all the right things” yet still got sick. She found equanimity towards the school’s administration with their inconsistent notification of Covid cases. By working on her reactions, she was able to maintain some peace in a frustrating situation. Because she didn’t have to waste excess energy on being stressed out, she had energy and was motivated to work on the things she needed to get done, like exercise and self care for her prediabetes.

My suggestion was to continue to use the Locks and Keys in her other interactions including close friends and family. She often has to deal with strong opposing political and social views from her family members. She could see if that helped give her a little more peace and equanimity and less stress when associating with them. With the increased motivation and resulting energy, perhaps she could spend more time on personal care (including nutrition and exercise) to address her prediabetes.

Yes. After collaborating together on her plan, she was able to put it into practice. She found it helpful in managing her emotions, and hence her stress level and her ability to put her energies towards more meaningful endeavors. Before we started, she stated her levels on a scale of 1-10, with higher numbers equal to higher levels. Stress lowered from 7-8 at the start to 5-6 when we met again. Energy level raised from 3-4 up to 6; Motivation level raised from 3-4 up to 7. She felt better after we talked and was excited that she felt she had enough energy to attempt to exercise. (She had been feeling badly about not exercising recently.) We both felt that this was a successful week. She mentioned that our meetings helped to make her feel better too, which was nice to hear. ☺

When I initially met with my client, she was not interested/willing to work with me on the teachings as she is a licensed Social Worker and a practicing Catholic. She was not interested in taking advice from me personally, as a non-licensed professional and non-practicing Catholic. I knew I could work with her stress using a bottom up approach with asana and she agreed to that. However, when it became clear that we would need to do a teachings-based approach for the TCA, she generously changed her mind and was open to using Patanjali’s teachings with me. I learned it’s always worth it to ask to see if a client is willing to try something different.

I would approach the situation the same way in the future. I talk with my client to see what they would like to work on, then see what teaching from the TCA would be appropriate to use in their situation. My first priority is to my client to make sure I’m meeting their needs. In this case, because of my lack of a professional license and different spiritual stance, my initial attempt to introduce Patanjali’s teachings were not well received. However, after explaining my situation, my client, changed her mind and was open to trying something different. We worked together to come up with a plan that she was comfortable with and willing to try.