Yoga Sutras on Perception and the Effects of Effort

Y.S. 1.17 Vitarka vichara ananda asmita rupa anugamat samprajnatah
Practice and detachment develop four types of Samadhi: self-analysis, synthesis, bliss and the experience of pure being.

Y.S. 1.18  Virama pratyaya abhyasa purvah samskara seso nyah
When the mind rises to this state of yoga and remains so, the usual mental disturbances are absent.  However, memories of the past continue.

Patanjali lets us know that it is only possible to reach higher levels of yoga through the various stages of practice.  First comes concentration and meditation.  One learns to meditate on the grosser elements before being able to contemplate the subtler elements.  The mind must achieve one-pointed-ness and have been brought under complete control in order to reach the state of Samadhi.

This constitutes an understanding of the order of the universe from the formless state of consciousness to the solid state of the physical world.  The path to Samadhi starts by contemplating the physical and works back to the state of pure consciousness.

Y.S. 1. 19  Bhava pratyayo videha prakriti layanam
Inevitable because of the many millions who share the world with us there will be some who are born in a state of yoga.  They need not practice or discipline themselves.

Y.S. 1. 20  Sraddha virya smrti Samadhi prajna purvaka itaresam
But what of the rest of us?  Is there really a chance of achieving this state of yoga?  Through faith, which will give sufficient energy to achieve success against all odds, direction will be maintained.  The realization of the goal of yoga is a matter of time.

Pose of the month for February - Akarna Dhanurasana

Akarna Dhanurasana

A = towards
Karna = ear
Danurasana = bow

Akarna Dhanurasana literally means "Toward-the-Ear Bow Pose," but is better described as "Archer Pose," since it resembles an archer preparing to release her arrow.

In his book, “Light on Life,” Mr. Iyengar states that, “The body is the bow, asana is the arrow and the soul is the target.”

Your practice leading to Akarna Dhanurasana can be a way of discovering how you use your body and mind to aim towards your target. Is your aim the posture itself? Or, are you interested in going deeper and learning more about yourself?

As with any advanced posture, it is important to pay attention to the quality of your breath and your state of mind as you work through the poses that lead to the final shape.

Here is a sequence of poses to help you on the road to Archer’s Pose and your own inner awareness.

Seated Crossed Leg Posture
This posture is sometimes called Easy Pose. It is the first hip opening seated pose most student encounter. Sit with your shins crossed and your feet under your knees. The pinky toe edges of your feet are on the floor with the soles of your feet facing sideways. Sit for several breaths with your right leg crossed in front and then switch legs. Soften your tongue, jaw and eyes as you settle in and notice if there is any physical resistance.

Goddess
Stand with your feet wide and your toes slightly turned out, knees and toes pointing in the same direction. Pulse up and down a few times and then hold the posture for five breaths. Lengthen from your pubic bone out towards your inner knees and contract from your outer knees into your outer hips as you work your hips open.

Warrior II
The asymmetry of Warrior II makes the hip opening a little more challenging and a little more like the asymmetry of Archer’s Pose. As you deepen the bend in your front knee towards 90 degrees, pay attention to the alignment of your outer front hip and the outer edge of your front foot keeping these two points in line. In every yoga pose we are looking for the symmetry of Tadasana. Find length in your spine and stay erect without leaning towards the front leg. This same lifting action is as important here as it is in the final pose.

Squat
If the heels do not reach the floor, you can prop the heels, but I prefer holding a weight in the hands.  This counterbalances your weight and stretches your calves and quads more.  Squatting uses gravity to open the hips.  Start by keeping your torso more upright, especially if your heels don't touch the ground, but once that happens you can work on reaching forward.

Cobbler
Look for the same opening of the inner thighs as in Goddess and the same lift in the spine as in Warrior II. In the final position of Cobbler’s Pose, the knees are on the ground. Be patient if your knees are higher than that. You may sit on a blanket to raise your hips, lowering the knees by relativity. The hips will be more inclined to open if the pelvis is upright rather than tipping backwards.

Seated Tree
Like Warrior II and Goddess Pose, Janu Sirsasana is more challenging because again it introduces the element of asymmetry. In this version, it is not important to fold forward but rather to work on staying upright and finding the lift of the chest. Work on the opening of the hip that takes the bent knee out to the side.

Maricyasana I
Lifting the knee in Maricyasana I introduces the element of moving the torso forward inside the bent leg.

Happy Baby and Variations
These variations use gravity to bring the knees toward the floor, the same direction the bent knee moves in the upright version. While lying on the floor you get the immediate feedback of how rounded your spine may be. Work the spine long, bringing more of your sacrum to the floor.

Archer’s Pose prep
This version allows you to feel how to lift the leg and pull the foot towards your ear, rather than moving your ear towards your foot, keeping the spine lifted.

Archer’s Pose
This final version of the pose is dependent on the previous stages. If all of those pieces fall into place then it is possible to draw the leg back with the breath and sit up straight and tall.

Notice where you start to lose the breath and equanimity of mind and go back to those stages; be content with exploring those poses. Work with patience, humility and curiosity as you continue the journey to self discovery.

Yoga Sutras 12 – 16 – The Sutras on Practice and Non-Attachment

Practice and Non-Attachment

Patanjali has defined the ways in which our mind takes in the outside world: comprehension, misconception, imagination, deep sleep and memory.  He says that these means of experiencing the outside world can be painful or painless; painful when we are deceived by our own minds and painless when we can see beyond these states of mind and recognize them for what they are.

How do we know if we perceive something correctly and are not being tricked my memory, imagination, sleepiness or misunderstanding?  By practicing:

Y.S. I.12 Abhyasa vairagyabhyam tannirodah
The mind can reach the state of yoga through practice and detachment.

Y.S. I.13  Tatra sthitau yatnah abhyasah
Practice is the steadfast effort to still these fluctuations.

Y.S. I.14 Sa ta dirgakala nairantarya satkara asevitah drdhabhumih
This practice, performed for a long time, without interruption and with sincere devotion will become the rock you stand on.

There will always be a tendency to start practice with enthusiasm, energy and a desire for sudden results.  But the continuing pressures of everyday life and the enormous resistance of the mind encourages us to succumb to human weaknesses.  All of this is understandable, we all have these tendencies.  These sutras emphasize the need to approach practice soberly with a positive, self-disciplined attitude and with a long-term view towards eventual success.  (Remember the Malcom Gladwell book on mastery and how it takes 10,000 hours.)

Y.S. I.15  Drishta anusravika visaya vitrsnasya vasikara samjna vairagyam
Mastery is attained when even things read in scriptures are consciously let go of.

Y.S. I.16  Tatparam purusa khyateh guna vaitrsnyam
The purest consciousness is one that reflects indifference to the most subtle qualities.

This last sutra points to the addiction of the material world and it encourages us to practice our detachment to it.  It is our preferences to pull in the things that we like and to push away the things we don’t like that create a painful state.

I was recently at an ashram enjoying a morning of chanting, meditation and satsang.  After the session we were invited to stay for chai and cake.  There was some complaining among the ashramites on the taste of the chai.  One preferred a lot of ginger and the other preferred less ginger.  A wise voice from the corner of the room chimed in, “The amount of spice in the chai is already there.  The choice is to drink the chai or not to drink the chai.”  Ah!  If it were only as simple as not drinking the chai!  But not complaining about the chai is a good example of how the mind works.

There will always be reasons to not practice, or to complain about the practice:  illness, injury, job or family circumstances will pull us away.  But we are encouraged to get back on track as soon as we can.  When I broke my foot, I did a lot of arm yoga.  When I broke my wrist, I did a lot of work on my legs.  There is always something to work on.  And it is important to celebrate what we have and can do as opposed to what we may have lost or can’t do.  And while Patanjali is talking about the mind here, you cannot separate the mind from the body as the nerves reach to all parts of the body.  The two are inter-connected.

The role of the mind is one of the most important things to consider in your practice.  When I don’t practice, I often find my mind making excuses:  I’m too tired, I don’t have time, I have to do this first, … When I do exert tapas (effort) to get to my mat and practice, whether I feel like it or not, I end up having a great practice;  I just had to get past my mind.  When there is that inevitable hiatus, for whatever reason, it is important to cultivate patience and beginner’s mind.  Our tendency is to call upon memory and tell ourselves that we used to be able to do something and so we should be able to do that now.  It is easy to injure yourself coming back to practice that way.   I’ve heard a rule of thumb that helps me be patient when beginning again and that is to allow two days  for every one day off.  And while it is true that you have to be careful to not let your ego get in the way when you start again, no progress is ever truly lost.  While I used to bemoan any injury I had as a set-back, I have come to realize, that over the long term, I have spent much less time being injured than I have not being injured.  And that my practice, when consistent is stronger than ever.

Finally, I’d like you to consider this quote from Henry Ford as you think about the role your mind has in your practice:  “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you will be right.”  It doesn’t guarantee immediate results, but over a long period of time, without interruption, it can become the rock you stand on!

This is what my version of 60 looks like.

Decade birthdays have always been major milestones for me. I was a teacher in a K-12 school when I turned 30.  All of a sudden the students considered me old.  I shouldn’t have been surprised. I remember a conversation I had with my mother about my kindergarten teacher, Miss Roosevelt.  I thought she was an elderly woman in her 60s.  My mom told me that she was in her 20s!  Age is relative. And it definitely depends on who is doing the aging.

At 40 I had my midlife crisis.  I quit my job, moved out of the house I was literally born in and adopted my son.  I remember feeling not only the biological clock ticking, but also a greater sense of the impermanence of things with my dad passing away a few years prior.

For my 50th birthday I decided that I wanted to do something special for myself.  It was one of those mom fantasies.  My son was ten and as much as I loved him (and still do), I needed some me time.  The  Yoga Journal Conference in San Francisco  happens every year around my birthday and I always wanted to go.  So, I decided that was the year.  While I was there I had my palm read.  The guy was good.  He looked at my hand and without asking me any questions told me that I was a teacher and a scholar (so true) and had been so for many lifetimes.  He also read that I had some major life changes in my 40’s (see above) and that I would have some more in my mid 50’s (my mother!)  He also told me that I would work for my entire lifetime.  Since I apparently have a long life line I guess retirement is not in my near future.  Maybe someday I can shoot for being the world’s oldest yoga teacher!

After my 50th birthday extravaganza, I decided that, for my 60th, I wanted to spend time with my family and friends.  Mitchell and I are taking a trip together and visiting some friends along the way.

Each decade has felt a little like a leap into the unknown and a time for leaving some things behind and taking up other new and different things.  Getting older in our culture is a challenge with so much focus on youth and beauty.  Like others before me, I don’t necessarily feel any older on the inside.  Yes, there are aches and pains at times and I cannot ride my bike as fast or run as fast as people half my age, but I am still out there doing the things I love to do.

I am grateful for my yoga practice all through these years.  I credit yoga with keeping me healthy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  My focus in the practice has definitely changed over time.  In the beginning I did it for relaxation.  Then, as the popularity of yoga increased, I got swept up in the physical practice and achieving poses. Although I never felt comfortable with posting poses on Instagram, students do want to know what you are capable of doing physically.  Now, I am more interested in how the physical practice influences my internal world.  I know that strength, balance and flexibility are important as we get older.  But so is contentment, clarity and peace.

As an older yoga teacher I face my own physical limitations of an aging body.  One thing I have had to let go of is that I no longer attract young students who are only in it for the physical practice.   As I move into this next decade of my life, I leap with the guidance of many others who have gone before me, I am holding the hands of those who are moving with me and I hope to light the way for those who come after me.

As I move into this next decade, the physical practice is still important.  Mr. Iyengar taught that when the body is dull, the mind can become dull, So I will continue to practice and explore the poses, but the physical body is only one of the five sheaths of the body.  There is also the energetic sheath of the breath, the mental sheath of the senses, the intellectual sheath of the mind and the blissful sheath of exploring the inner Self.  I hope to keep exploring the many layers of this practice called yoga with you for years to come.

The Yoga Sutras on The Architecture of the Mind

The Architecture of the Mind

These are the five kinds of thought forms, or vrttis,  that we must be aware of and be able to see them for what they are in order to be able to find inner peace.  Knowing this, the next question is:  How do we recognize these vrttis?  We need to recognize what they are before we can be able to control them.   Otherwise our thoughts take on the form of the world around us, harden like clay, and you presume that they are you.

The five thought forms are:

Y.S. I.6  Pramana viparyaya vikalpa nidra smrtayah
The five activities are right knowledge, misconception, imagination, deep sleep and memory.

These five activities of the mind are in action in every moment and all at the same time.  For example, the thought of “home” will be perceived in shades of its actuality (pramana), its incorrect assumption of permanence (viparyaya), our fantasies of its future (vikalpa), the memories we’ve had within it (smrtayah) and the void of its non-existence (nidra).  Knowing that our thoughts can be colored by these five characteristics can help us identify true perception (pramana) among the others.  The goal is not necessarily to see the truth exclusively, but to be able to distinguish it.

For those of you who are interested in the texts I have been using, I base my commentary on The Yoga Sutras from a combination of several texts and one app:

The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar
Light on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by B.K.S. Iyengar
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Edwin F. Bryant
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satchidananda
And an app on the Yoga Sutras developed by Daniel Levine

Yoga Sutras I.5 – I.11 - Definition of the Vrttis of the Mind

Definition of Vrttis of the Mind

I have read that we have somewhere around 60,000 thoughts a day and that 80% of those thoughts are repetitive. Of those repetitive thoughts, 80% are negative! I found that statistic to be rather amazing and somewhat disheartening. These thoughts create our reality and our suffering or lack of suffering. Yoga teaches us that we can do something about these thoughts, that we can become aware of the activities of our mind and that we can do something about these negative thoughts.

But first Patanjali has to define exactly what the mind is before we can learn how to control it. He defines the mind as the activities (vrttis) that occupy it.

Y.S. I.5 Vrttayah pancatayyah klistah aklistah
There are five activities of the mind. Each of them can be beneficial and each can cause problems.

Y.S. I.6 Pramana viparyaya vikalpa nidra smrtayah
The five activities are right knowledge, misconception, imagination, deep sleep and memory.

The activities, or vrttis, are each defined:

Y.S. I.7 Pratyaksa anumana agamah pramanani
Right knowledge is based on direct observation of the object, inference and reference to reliable sources.

Y.S. I.8 Viparyayo mithya-jnanam atad rupa pratistham
Misconception occurs when knowledge of something is not based on its true form.

Y.S. I.9 Sabda jnana anupati vastu-sunyo vikalpah
Imagination is the comprehension of an object based only on words and expressions even though the object is absent.

Y.S. I.10 Abhava pratyaya alambana tamo vrtti nidra
Deep sleep is when the mind is overcome with heaviness and no other activities are present.

Y.S. I.11 Anubhuta visaya asampramosah smrtih
Memory is the mental retention of a conscious experience.

These are the five kinds of vrttis, or thought forms, that we must be aware of and be able to see them for what they are in order to be able to find inner peace. Knowing this, the next question should be how to control these vrttis, because in reality, they seem to be controlling us.

Your Sphere of Influence

The Moral and Ethical Codes of Yoga

What is my Sphere of influence in the World? How do my yoga practices affect anyone else?

In Teacher Training we always talk about the Yamas and Niyamas; yoga’s moral and ethical codes.  Doing asana without the underlying philosophy is just exercise.  Yoga is more than that.

The Yamas are restraints for proper conduct; giving us tips on how to interact with each other.  The Yamas are:

Ahimsa or non-violence, Satya or truthfulness, Asteya or non-stealing, Brahmacarya or sexual restraint and Aparigraha or non-hoarding.

Inevitably when we talk about these restraints students always remark that while they might be practicing these rules that there is evidence of the opposite of these behaviors out in the world.  The Yoga Sutras speak directly to that.  The Yoga Sutra on ahimsa says explicitly:

Ahimsaa-pratishthaayaam tat-samnidhau vaira-tyaagah. Patanjali Y.S. 2.35All others will cease to feel hostility in the presence of one who is firmly established in ahimsa.

The only non-violence or truthfulness that we can be responsible for is our own.  We have no control over others.  But our actions can have a ripple effect.

Sharon Salzberg, a Buddhist meditation teacher, wrote a recent blog post for ON BEING on just this topic called “Your Three Feet of Influence”.  This article shows how our practices ripple out into the world creating our Sphere of Influence.

Revolved Side Angle Pose

Twists - Parivrtta Parsva Konasana or Revolved Side Angle Pose

Classically, twists are considered to be cleansing postures.  Twisting and squeezing the body moves fluids, wastes and toxins from the tissues and cells.  A rush of new blood surges in when the pose is released, cleaning out your digestive tract and vital organs.  In Light on Yoga, Mr. Iyengar tells us that the contraction of the abdominal organs in this pose aids digestion.  He also states that “the blood circulates well around the abdominal organs and spinal column and they are thus rejuvenated”.  That is one reason why people who suffer from back pain often find relief in twists.  This asana is also said to help remove waste matter from the colon without strain.  As you can see, there is a lot of benefit from doing twists in general and this pose in particular.

Poses of the Month for 2018

The Year in Poses

These are the poses I will be working on this year.  The poses in front of the forward slash are the entry level poses or modifications.  The poses after the forward slash are the more advanced apex poses we will be working towards.

January
Twists - Lunge Twist Twists/Parivrtta Parsvakonasan

February
Happy Baby, Janu Sirsasana/Marichyasana I, Akarna Dhanurasana

March
Core - Navasana and Ardha Navasana/Tolasana, Lolasana

April
6 Block Headstand and Malasana/Headstand to Bakasana

May
Standing Poses - Airplane/ Standing poses - Warrior III

June
Gomukhasana and Dolphin/Gomukhasana and Pinca Mayurasana

July
Triangle/Bound Triangle

August
Baby Dancer’s Pose/Natarajasana

September
Runner’s stretch/Janu Sirsasana B/Hanumanasana

October
Tree Pose & Variations/ Handstand - Adho Mukha Vrksasana variations

November
Hip Openers - Janu Sirsasana, Baddha Konasana /Agni Stambhasana/Padmasana

December
RestorativeInspiration for the year:Yoga of the Subtle Body by Tias LittleThe Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

One of my goals for this year is to study the Yoga Sutras.  I have been learning them randomly over the years. There are certain ones that are common and quoted often, but I have often wanted to follow the entire thread from beginning to end.  After all, the word sutra means thread.There are 196 sutras according to B.K.S. Iyengar.  My plan is to tackle 4 each week and take a year to finish the entire book.  I hope you enjoy this exercise and I encourage you to read along with me.There are 4 chapters in the book of the Yoga Sutras.  The first one is called Samadhi Pada, or the chapter on Samadhi; a state of intense concentration achieved through meditation.  In this chapter, Patanjali analyses the components of consciousness and its behavioral patterns and explains how its fluctuations can be stilled in order to achieve inner absorption and integration or Samadhi.  This is where we will begin.

Chapter 1 – Samadhi Pada

Y.S. I.1 Atha yoganusanamatha - nowyoga – unionanus – adviceasanam – instructionsWith prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga.Each sutra is a condensed thread filled with meaning.  This first one can mean that Patanjali has acquired sufficient knowledge that is he now ready and able to pass the teachings on to us.  Or, it could mean that now, because you are curious, you are ready to begin learning the deeper meaning of yoga.  Also contained in the word now is the concept of living and being in the present moment.  There is always the opportunity to begin again and again no matter how many times you forget or fall off of your practice.  You can always start again.Y.S. I.2  Yogah cittavrtti nirodhahyogah – integrationcitta – consciousnessvrtti – fluctuations in mindnirodhah – obstructionYoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness.I think this line is one that creates the most confusion for people because it makes them think that they have to stop their mind from thinking; this is the very job that the mind is supposed to do.  But if we turn inwards and we can see that there is the part of us that is thinking the thoughts and there is that part of us that is witnessing the thinking of thoughts.   At this level, often called the seer or the Capital “S” self, we can begin to realize that the thoughts are much like clouds passing in the sky and that the inner seer is much like the sun; the clouds may temporarily obscure the sun, but the sun is always shining.  Some of the clouds may be dark and stormy while others are puffy and light, but they are temporary and the sun is not.These movements of consciousness are often the cause of our changing moods.  I can feel that I have enough until I meet someone who has more and then while I was previously content, now I am not.  My circumstances haven’t changed, only my thoughts about my circumstances have.  These fluctuations in consciousness are the cause of suffering.Y.S. I.3  Tada drastuh svarupe avasthanamtada – thendrastuh – the soul, the seersvarupe – in his own stateavasthanam – abidesThen, the seer dwells in his own true splendor.By the time we get to this third sutra, Patanjali has told us all we need to know to dwell in the state of Samadhi.  However, while this is a simple concept, it is not easy.Y.S. I.4  Vrtti sarupyam itaratravrtti – fluctuationsarupyam – identificationitaratra – at other timesAt other times the seer identifies with the fluctuating consciousness.And that is where this fourth sutra comes in.  Most of the time, we identify with these fluctuations of consciousness, these clouds in the sky; we lose sight of the sun.