Swadhyaya - Study of Sacred Texts

I realize I am a huge nerd, but swadhyaya has to be my favorite niyama. I love to read about philosophy, but I also Love to people watch! The most sacred of texts is written in all of us. People's actions, and even more so their in-actions, hold priceless lessons for those who are tuned in.

A few years ago I had a unique and fascinating opportunity to live in the middle east for three months. I found the most interesting group of people to watch was the women. Required to be covered in the presence of men, the women spent most of their time unnoticed by those around them. However, when in the company of only females, I discovered a universal sisterhood unlike anything I'd witnessed before. I learned in that time the power of openness, or conversely the opposing power of repression.

Bringing swadhyaya to your daily life is very simple - observe the world you're living in, learn from what you read, in books, in situations, in the people around you, and start applying those lessons to your own life.

Tapas - Austerity

The third niyama is tapas, or austerity.  I looked up austere in the dictionary and found one definition that I felt represented tapas most accurately - rigorously self-disciplined. In his book, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, B.K.S. Iyengar gives a beautiful description of tapas:

"Ahimsa [non-violence] cannot be properly understood without reference to tapas. Tapas is the inner himsa (violence) by which we create the possibility of outer ahimsa. Ahimsa cannot exist alone. A complementary force must necessarily exist. Mahatma Gandhi would never have been able to summon up the implacable peacefulness which moved an empire, without his ruthless attitude towards his own self. Violence is perhaps too strong a word for tapas, but it is a burning inner zeal and austerity, a sort of unflagging hardness of attitude towards oneself which makes possible compassion and forgiveness towards others."

Earlier, I discussed the application of ahimsa to oneself. Iyengar's words thus present an interesting question: how do we balance self-discipline with self-ahimsa?  I believe forgiveness is a major factor to finding that balance. As we can all see, it's been 11 days since my last post.  I had intended to write a blog daily, but here we are - hello lack of self-discipline. But I am writing now, and the present is the only place I can exist. I am not hung up on the fact that I took a mini-hiatus from writing. I am forgiven. This mindset will allow me to carry on, unaffected by the past and unconcerned with the future.

Everyone knows how to be self-disciplined. My challenge to you today is to let go of the times you slipped up and start anew each day with a sense of determination to live each moment as it comes. I think that after you stop beating yourself up over mistakes you will find it much easier to stick to your goals and remain on your right path.

Santosha - Contentment

I've been struggling to write about the niyama santosha for nearly a week now. I realized last night that it's been difficult for me to comment on santosha because I've been deluding myself about how content I really am. I am profoundly content with many areas of my life right now, but I have unknowingly allowed my 'quest to find a home' to torment me. More accurately, I've allowed my attachment to fulfilling this notion of "home" to torment me.

In one of my teacher training courses we were asked to provide one word that described our lives up to that point. My word was "searching." I believe it was contentment that I had been searching for, and had moved literally to the other side of the planet in pursuit of it. What a waste of time! The journey towards contentment is an internal one. No searching necessary!

I believe the key to contentment lies in another cornerstone of yoga - detachment. I have this image, a fantasy really, of how I will feel when I find "home." I've been dwelling on this concept for so long that the fantasy has grown to include how I will find my "home," who will be around me when I do, what the whole scene will look like, blah blah blah. It's really quite ridiculous. I have created this huge attachment to something that I don't even have. Yoga Sutra II.7 says, "Pleasure leads to desire and emotional attachment." My mind has been dwelling on the pleasurable experiences associated with having a home and has thus developed a strong desire to realize those feelings again. "The cause of pain is the association or identification of the seer (atma) with the seen (prakrti) and the remedy lies in their dissociation" (II.17). I need to start detaching from my concept of home. It's time for that cheesy old cliche, 'home is where the heart is,' to be taken literally. I don't need to find a place that's full of warm fuzzies to be content, serenity is inside me. (Easier said than done, but the first step is always admitting that you have a problem, right?)

Alright - I was supposed to be sharing ways of bringing the niyamas into YOUR daily life here! =)  I would suggest taking a moment to evaluate your own desires and start thinking of ways to detach from those desires. Ultimately, our goal is to transcend the instant gratification of satisfied desires and find true contentment within.

Saucha - Purity, Cleanliness

Where the yamas are designed to shape your actions, speech, and thoughts as they relate to the outside world, the niyamas shape your mind and emotions to begin detachment from the ego and the outside world.  The first niyama is saucha; purity or cleanliness.

As mentioned earlier, yoga is a means for uniting the individual soul with the Universal Soul.  Along the path of yoga, however, the soul resides within You.  The first niyama is telling you to take care of yourself! Give your soul a healthy, happy home to thrive in. 

When applying niyamas to daily life, there are three bodies to consider; the physical or gross body, the subtle body, and the causal body. Maintaining cleanliness and purity of the physical body is fairly simple. This includes standard hygiene as well as eating a healthy, sattvic diet, performing asanas to keep the bodily systems healthy, and allowing the body time to rest. Within the subtle body, purity and cleanliness is applied to the mind as well as the pranic energy channels of the body. Removing stress,  dissolving attachments, and practicing pranayama are great steps towards embracing saucha at the subtle level.  The causal body refers to the soul itself.  At its source, the soul is pure. However, under the influence of ego and the mind, the soul is distorted and veiled. To extend saucha to the soul means to eliminate these afflictions. This is where meditation (dhyana) comes in.  Meditation settles fluctuations of the consciousness allowing the purity of the soul to shine through.

For today's activity I am going to jump ahead a bit and introduce a simple pranayama technique to begin bringing saucha to the subtle body. 

Anuloma Vuloma (Alternate-nostril breathing)

Begin my placing your hand in the Vishnu Mudra.  With your right hand, fold your index and middle finger in towards your palm. Place your thumb along the right nostril and your ring and pinkie fingers along the left nostril.

Clearing the airway:

Inhale through both nostrils

Exhale through the left nostril

Anuloma Vuloma:

Inhale through the right nostril for a count of four

Closing both nostrils, hold the breath for a count of eight

Exhale through the left nostril for a count of eight

Inhale through the left nostril for a count of four

Closing both nostrils, hold the breath for a count of eight

Exhale through the left nostril for a count of eight

This is one round.  Try doing nine rounds and see how you feel.  Increase or decrease the number of rounds by sets of three as necessary.

Eventually, the length and ratio of breath inhalation/retention/exhalation will increase - if you try this and it seems easy send me a message and I will give you a different count for your practice!

Writer's Block

Hello everyone!

I was planning to start talking about the niyamas today, but alas, the words just aren't coming to me. Truth be told, I am leaving for a trip tomorrow morning and haven't been able to think about anything else all day. I am SUPER excited!!!! I have a really good feeling about what will come of this trip.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that this good feeling means I will find a home while simultaneously trying not to get my hopes up too high. My goal for the next two weeks is to follow my instincts, the subtle movements of my soul, and not get caught in any of the traps set by my mind.

When the words come back to me to continue the discussion on the eight limbs of Ashtanga we will back to our regularly scheduled program. In the mean time, I may be writing about my home-seeking journey!  =)

I hope everyone had a great February!
Namaste

Aparigraha - Non-acceptance of Gifts or Bribes

The final yama is aparigraha, or non-acceptance of gifts or bribes. The purpose of not accepting gifts or bribes is to free the sadhaka (practitioner) from avarice and greed. How much of what you currently own did you need and how much did you simply want? We all like to spoil ourselves sometimes (myself included, and near the top of the list I imagine). I am not here to tell you to stop.  In fact, I'm not even going to continue talking about it because it's something we are ALL aware of.  Instead, I would like to talk about another, slightly more abstract, side to aparigraha.

How do you feel about gay marriage? Abortion? The death penalty? Whoa! Dangerous topics, lady! No one in their right mind would bring these up at a dinner party. They are just three of an endless list of "hot-button" topics that people feel so strongly about that it's rare to find anyone capable of having a calm, open-minded conversation about them. Aparigraha doesn't only apply to material possessions, but also to thoughts. How many of you have seen that show, Hoarders? That's how I visualize the minds of those who desperately cling to their thoughts and ideas. It's ok to be open-minded. Let go! You never know what you may discover once you open yourself up to it.

Namaste and have a great rest of your weekend!  Niyamas will commence on Monday!

Brahmacharya - Divine Conduct, Purity in Relationships, Moderation

Today I am going to stick with the traditional meaning of brahmacharya because I believe it's often skipped over by modern day yoga practitioners due to a lack of understanding.

Brahmacharya has a wide range of interpretation. At its most extreme, brahmacharya means celibacy; but for those of us who have not chosen a cloistered life, it is understood to refer to divine conduct in the use of sexual energy. Sexual energy is the energy of life and rebirth and according to the practice of yoga, should be treated with reverence. So what does that mean exactly?

All of the yamas are interwoven, so a good place to start is evaluating how brahmacharya fits in with everything else we've talked about thus far. Let's look at some of the negative uses of sexual energy - rape, molestation, coercion, manipulation, infidelity, just to name a few.  Abolishing each of these acts fits into one, if not all, of the yamas we've already discussed; nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing.   I like the phrase 'purity of heart' when addressing brahmacharya. Sexual energy is such a powerful force that it really can be destructive in the hands of those with wrongful or thoughtless intentions.

Your personal understanding and application of brahmacharya will evolve as you progress in yoga. As you learn to control your senses and eliminate attachment to desires, you will also learn to harness and utilize the vitality inherent within your sexual energy. But for now, begin by identifying and avoiding lust where you can. Definitions of lust include words like 'uncontrolled' and 'overmastering.' Uncontrolled emotions often lead to thoughtless actions and as we discussed earlier, sexual energy can be a dangerous force in those who act thoughtlessly. Be good to yourself, be good to others, and never use sex as a weapon.