Friday 14 April 2017

Reflections from YogaVahini - April 14, 2017

Dear Sanga, 

It is our New year today, in this part of the world. With this year, YogaVahini is stepping into a new phase, something that we have been preparing for so long! The YogaVahini Foundation as a Public Charitable Trust is going operational and we look forward to expanding our scope and potential to engage with  the world in a more meaningful manner through yoga. 

We welcome you to join us today with a short, silent practice, connecting with our intent, and blessing the endeavour.


What are we seeking?

 

Now that yoga has become extra popular and special, it will be good to revisit the question of why we are doing what we are doing with yoga. As a yoga teacher and practitioner, this is something I have to ask myself everyday so that I don't get swept off my feet with the frenzy of so called "yogic" activities we seem to be consumed with all the time!

 

What is our goal in yoga?

 

At the highest level yoga is about being established in our true nature: to understand that we are in essence the imperishable, pure Self. This appears to be a distant dream, even beyond our imagination. So we have to begin with realistic goals that are tangible at some level. It maybe that we want to improve our health and well-being, reduce stress, acquire peace of mind, clarity etc. And these actually come by quite effortlessly, if we practiced regularly. But we could get stuck and complacent with these apparent benefits leading to stagnation and regression. Our yoga journey begins with seeking happiness and wanting to avoid pain and continues or discontinues for a variety of reasons.

 

A more diligent practitioner is no better off!

 

In doing my asana practice with great zeal, I could get obsessed and indulgent with my body. In practising meditation, I could get attached to the identity of a "meditator" and build barriers around me, separating the very "special" me from the "ordinary" world! We could get so strongly identified with our "practices", "mantra",  "tradition", "Guru", even with the accessories of yoga and what is meant to liberate us actually traps us!

 

So it is absolutely important for any serious seeker to know if one is on the right track…

 

Am I moving in the right direction? What are the signposts on the path of yoga?

 

Patanjali, the author of Yoga Sutra expounds the fundamental principles of right action through the Yama & Niyama. Yamas are boundaries of right action & engagement with the world. Non-violence, honesty, non-stealing, seeking the highest truth, non-grasping are the five Yamas. Niyamas are personal observances that, when practised constantly and consistently, will facilitate the Yamas. Purity of body & mind, contentment, austerity, study & self-reflection and surrendering to the Higher intelligence are the five Niyamas.

 

Are my feelings, thoughts, actions and responses to the world in alignment to what I am seeking through yoga?

 

Do you know that when Patanjali has only allocated 3 sutras out of 195 for Asana, he has talked about the Yama, Niyama in 18 sutras! It is not that asana is less important but Yama Niyama are of paramount importance without which there is no yoga! But how conveniently we have magnified the physical aspect beyond proportion and allowed it to eclipse the Yama Niyama!

 

How do we practice Yama, Niyama? Is it really possible to be established in them? You may ask. Do you know of anybody who is fully established in them? You may want to know.

 

Yama Niyama are to be practised each day, not something we are expected to do perfectly each time.  But this confused illusion of "perfection" and need to be seen as perfect, we suppress, deflect, manipulate and suffer! To make these precepts more palatable, we have conveniently converted them into didactic instructions, intellectual discussions and attractive slogans!

 

The soft target is always the other! We want to know how to change people who don't practice these precepts. Even before I understand what is ahimsa, I want to be treated with kindness. Even if I just decide to be truthful, I already expect others to be honest and trustworthy towards me. One of my teachers once wrote: "I fully believe in ahimsa, nobody should hurt me".

 

The desire for pleasure and aversion to pain keeps us stuck!

 

What is the way out?

 

Patanjali uses the word Svadhyaya – study of texts as a process of understanding oneself and living our life from that understanding. Without yoga practices coupled with svadhyaya, they can even spell danger not just to the practitioner but to others who have to tolerate and live with the self-obsessed "more evolved beings"!

 

Svadhyaya is not self-analysis or self-judgement! It is to learn to honestly look into oneself and maintain a non-judgmental awareness of everything that is happening in the moment. Becoming aware of our thoughts, intentions and feelings, listening to ourself when we think and speak, taking responsibility for our actions and inactions. And for this we require the support of a strong sanga – spiritual community.

 

And we also need to create contexts for this exploration – a laboratory for cultivating the Yama-Niyama. Take time off from our frenzied activity, regularly and periodically. Come home to a quiet space where we are not filling in with mindless activity and chatter. Make this space safe and nourishing for each other.

 

In this sacred space:

 

Can we bring to this circle our experiences and insights from practice, our gifts as well as our struggles? Where we practice equity and self-disclosure without the fear of judgment and rejection.



Can we listen with compassion and learn to reflect for each other what we maybe blind to? Where our sharing helps to break illusions of being more or less evolved and gives hope and inspiration.

 

This of course, has to be actively supported by our daily practice. Right practice of asana is meant to reduce Rajas and improve our tolerance. Pranayama reduces the heaviness of Tamas, sensory and mental indulgence. Meditative practices help in sharpening the mind to stay with our enquiry. Such a mind can observe the inner and outer realities without much distortion. Such a mind is aware of feeling, intentions, thoughts, actions and reactions and assumes active responsibility. Only such a mind can practice Yama – Niyama and inspire others too!

 

Even if it is painful, it is important to stay with the Yama-Niyama practice. We slowly learn to re-calibrate our aspirations and expectations.


We see more and more that it is not about having the right answers but staying with important questions.

 

It is not so much about "doing the right thing" but enquiring into our compulsions for unwholesome actions.

 

We slowly begin to understand what the Yama-Niyamas mean and this very understanding helps us to refine our thoughts intentions and actions.

 

Together we can work towards a more wholesome life that is reflected in all our thoughts, actions and responses to life situations.

 

Such active, practising communities are the need of the hour.

 

As a collective, when we shift our focus from result to quality of actions, from purpose to meaning, yoga comes alive… and a better world is born.

 

love, 

Saras.