There is just something about Hanuman.
There is something about the mischievous energy of him growing up, there is something about his incredible loyalty to Ram, the way that he forgets his own Siddhis, that he can only use his Siddhis (magical powers) in service to people who have some kind of higher purpose.
He shows us true selfless service. True devotion. What it means to really put the people you love before yourself.
He knows the right time to play small and gentle (like meeting Sita to give her Ram’s ring).
He knows when to be strong and mighty (like flying an entire mountain back to the battlefield to supply the healing herbs).
These are the Hanuman stories that are commonly shared in many Yoga communities.
But today, let’s take a look at Hanuman’s name and what these particular two teachings can show us as Yogipreneurs.
Like all the Gods and Goddesses of Yoga, Hanuman has many names. We’re going to focus on two: Hanuman and Anjaneya.
The name Anjaneya is a maternal name: it indicates ‘son of Anjana’. (And this is where the name of the pose ‘Anjaneyasana comes from.) Anjaneya is the name Hanuman was known as during his childhood. If Anjana was his mother, who was his father? Well, that is a little more complicated.
Hanuman was raised by Anjana and her husband, Kesari. But Hanuman’s biological father was Vayu, the wind god.
My short and sharp retelling of the story is this: Anjana was out and about doing her thing. Vayu spied her and was overcome with lust. So he ‘ruffled her skirts’ which caused her to fall pregnant. From a mythological perspective, these sorts of pregnancies were common and not thought of as negative or violent. For me, however, this is non-consensual. You could argue, therefore, that Anjaneya was the child of rape. That he was conceived as a result of trauma. Whether you take this modern, feminist interpretation of the story or a more historical, mythological interpretation, what is true for both is that Hanuman has a non-typical origin story.
Hold this thought. I’m going to loop back.
***
Let’s jump forward in time to Anjaneya as a child. Kesari is raising the little guy as his own son. Anjana is doing her best to care for a child that is cheeky, restless and a little naughty. One day it all gets a little too much for Anjana and she needs a well-deserved mummy time-out. So she says to her son, ‘You stay home and look after yourself. I’m just going to take a selfcare break. I won’t be long.’
‘But what if I get hungry?’ little Anjaneya asks her.
‘Well, you can eat some fruit,’ she said. Healthy snacks: winning. She collected her purse and headed out. So Anjaneya started playing, teasing his friends, making mischief, doing what all little monkey boys do.
After a while he started to feel hungry and remembered his mum’s instructions about the fruit. He headed to the kitchen and looked at the fruit on offer. Nothing in the kitchen was exciting or interesting enough. Anjaneya wanted something really delicious.
He went back outside and found what he’d been searching for. The perfect peach. ‘I’m gonna eat that one, that big giant, shining, super juicy one in the sky,’ he said, pointing to the sun. And, using his magical powers, he leapt towards the heavens to grab it.
Indra, King of the Gods, saw this monkey boy making to steal the sun from the sky and went straight into protector mode. Without thinking, he launched a thunderbolt directly into Anjaneya’s face, knocking him to the ground and breaking his jaw. ‘Hanu’ means ‘jaw’, so this is where the name Hanuman comes from. It can be interpreted to mean ‘the one with the broken jaw’.
***
Now let’s start to weave these strands together.
Not only is Hanuman the child of trauma, he also bears the name of a deformity.
He is literally known by his brokenness.
He is a powerful reminder that even the Gods — even these divine beings — are imperfect, have challenging pasts and do amazing things despite it all.
We know that Hanuman is fundamental is rescuing Sita from from Lanka, from saving her form the demon, Ravana. It was Hanuman who took Ram’s ring, leapt over the ocean, found the Princess and whispered to her, ‘It’s gonna be okay. Your man is on the other side, we’re building a bridge, we’re gonna figure this out.’
A broken monkey from an unconventional home achieved these great feats that moved history forward.
We can identify with Hanuman because we all have our own wounding, our own difficult past, our own brokenness. While the forms differ between us, the fact that ‘we’ve been through stuff’ is something we all have in common.
That’s why these Hanuman teachings are so relatable.
Perhaps, like Hanuman, our wounding does not need to stop us from tapping in to our own super powers. Perhaps we, too, can overcome adversity, access our talents and gifts in the service of others and surprise even ourselves with the feats we can accomplish.
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Last night I was teaching Eka Pada Rajakapotasana as one of the peak poses in my class, and I was talking about plantar flexion in the front foot because I know what a hip injury looks like as well as what a knee injury looks like after years of misaligned poses (like pigeon) in my own practice.
Because I’m now a bit broken on one side from bad Yoga in my twenties, I have a gift to share: correct and safe alignment teaching for poses like this. In this way, my wounding gets to be my message. I can teach like a fanatic these days about how to do an aligned Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, regardless of the level of external rotation and adduction you have in your hips.
In this way what if, as well as recognising our brokenness as a normal part of being an embodied being, we could put it to work in the service of others?
Today, my encouragement is for you to check in with your wounds, your broken parts.
What are your stories and how do they influence who you are today?
Maybe you’ve also got trauma in your family of origin story.
Maybe you’ve made a mistake that caused you a significant injury or set-back.
Maybe, like Hanuman, you’re one of the most unlikely people to achieve great things…
Whatever your wounds, how can you really bring them in? How can you forgive them, love them, and turn them into what actually fuels your success, fuels your business, and fuels how you are in service to the world and to your communities?
Hanuman did not let his misfortune hold him back. He continued to show up and achieve great things, never in a showy way but in a way of deep service.
Let’s not define ourselves by our mistakes or misfortune. Let’s achieve great things despite them.