by James
14. May 2010 08:42
One of the core concepts behind the practice of yoga is that of non-attachment. Yoga teaches us to let go of our attachments to fears and distractions that we hold in daily life because they disable us from discovering our inner-selves.
This concept of non-attachment can, surprisingly, be applied to poker. This concept seems to be contrary to the concept of poker. How can a concept that doesn’t care about outcome or competition enhance the game of poker? If the player isn’t competitive, how will he/she go on to win the game? Isn’t the outcome of winning the point of poker?
While poker players who have earned success have done so through experience and tenacity and not through chance, these players have also had to be fully aware of every dimension of play going on at any given moment. These players need to be able to give their full attention to the ‘now’ in order to pick up on all the subtleties taking place.
In yoga practice, people find that as they progress they can do poses that they would never have dreamed of being able to do in the beginning. This is not the point of yoga however. The more a person becomes results oriented the less they will progress. If someone is practicing yoga for impressive physical results they are doing it for the wrong reasons and are not actually going to benefit from it.
The same applies to poker- as poker players become more and more aware of the various dimensions of the game they start to focus on how they can improve as opposed to enjoying the game. These players can count cards, read other players’ ‘tells’, calculate odds and sometimes even think they have learned everything they needed to. In yogic tradition no matter how advanced you are in whatever you are applying yourself to; you are always an infant with regards to how much you still have to learn. This is where the non-attachment comes in, if we are unattached to results, we will remain open to learning and therefore continue to grow within the game. The emphasis is on focusing on the present, and when you are in the present your senses become sharpened and more in tune and your game excels. If you remain attached to the results you will have a rough time staying in the present and be unable to focus your full attention on concentrating on the multiple dimensions of the game that are taking place at any given time.