Whoa. Where does the time go?! It's been almost a month since I posted a blog! Sorry folks. I've made it to Boston and am going to try to discipline myself again.... let's start by finishing up these niyamas!
Ishwara Pranidhana. This niyama is most often translated as "surrender to God." I prefer to translate it as "self-surrender." (I am not going to dive into the murky waters of religious discussion today, I will simply say that yoga unites and transcends all religions, all beliefs, so you can insert whatever word you choose for God. I will use "self" here in an attempt to avoid conflict.)
Ishwara Pranidhana is about surrendering desires, surrendering the pulls of the senses, and surrendering the ego. To simplify the concept, let's look at surrendering the senses. The most basic sense is the sense of smell. Think about walking past the bakery section at the grocery store at 4pm. All of the fresh breads are coming out of the oven and the smell is Amazing! Your mouth starts watering and you can see the entire meal you'll plan around that fresh loaf. And freeze. This one little sense stimulation has developed into a great big desire. So how do you surrender that? To be honest, I don't know. I still love the smell of that bread. =) But, one technique I've found helpful has been to stop, acknowledge my increased desire, experience it, and keep walking!
An important note - surrender and deprivation are not the same thing! In the above example, I kept walking past the bread and didn't think about it again. Feelings of deprivation will only make that desire grow. It's not an easy thing to master, but if you can get that last step down - experiencing the desire without fulfilling it - eventually that desire will fade. Often it's the desire that we crave more so than the actual object.
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