Tag Archives: consciousness

Dusting Off the Word According to Patanjali

Posted on February 10, 2013 | Leave a comment

 

Yesterday I kicked off the first of six sessions in which 9 of us will look at at least 10 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. The form is a study group with me as the leader.

I loved the class, and I hope the others did too. It’s a privilege to give time to considering the big questions, like what is yoga? We do it daily or once a week but might not give much thought to the what and why we’re doing it.

One of the things I was able to experience was a fresh look at Sutra I:2 (thought of as the most important sutra) through the eyes of those who are newer to yoga – and also discover what it meant to them. I had a great insight… that this particular aphorism sums up the whole of the 156 sutra.

So, in the spirit of perhaps refreshing your definition of yoga, I’ll give you a few interpretations of the crystal-clear, pared down genius of the Old Sage. I’d be curious to hear which of these your mind and heart resonate with….

Yoga citti vrtti nirodhah.

Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness. – Chip Hartranft

Yoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness. – B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga is the restriction of the fluctuations of consciousness. – Georg Feuerstein

The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga. – Sri Swami Satchidananda

Wholeness consists of a complete grasp and command over the process of being and becoming aware. – Kofi Busia

Yoga is the ability to direct the mind exclusively towards an object and sustain that direction without any distractions. – T.K.V. Desikachar

Yoga is the uniting of consciousness in the heart. – Nischala Joy Devi

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Posted in Philosophy, Wisdom, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

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A Sutra a Day: IV-21 – Mind-stuff Watching Itself

Posted on February 4, 2013 | Leave a comment

Buddha and Galah

Okay I’ve run out of steam. I can’t think of a single anecdote from my life that will illustrate the Sutra of the day. I can’t even think of anything in my experience that will even obliquely describe today’s Sutra.

However, Chip Hartranft will save the day with this great explanation of the distinction between awareness and consciousness, which has been the theme of Chapter IV with its Sutra being all about freedom. Hartranft says consciousness cannot illuminate itself, any more than a television picture can watch itself…

…even though it is capable of displaying a vast array of distinctive programs and settings, each offering a compelling pseudo-reality. Once the volume is turned down and the screen darkened, however, the illusion evaporates. One remembers that it was just a show appearing on a machine. Seeing our reflection in the screen, we sense ourself sitting there, breathing, watching, thinking.*

If one can wake up out of the illusory experience to the knowledge of pure awareness, one stands apart from all experience and discovers nobody is watching.

There is just watching itself.

Cittantaradrsye buddhibuddheratiprasangah smrtisankarasca

If consciousness were perceived by itself instead of by awareness, the chain of such perceptions would regress infinitely, imploding memory.*

*The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, translation and commentary by Chip Hartranft.

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Posted in Wisdom, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

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A Sutra a Day: IV-6 – ‘Shed’ those Negative Influences

Posted on January 2, 2013 | 1 Comment

 

Are you sensitive to different energies? Recently I’ve had a few visitors come to the Yoga Shed who have told me how much they appreciate the special energy of the space. Someone of a more skeptical attitude might think that’s a bunch of hooey – how can a room emit energy?

It happens over time… layer on layer of sweat, grunting, heavy and soft breathing, listening, observing, concentrating, laughter, and the simple joy of being in one’s body; over months and years, they all combine to gradually shift a yoga room’s atmosphere. You arrive in the space and know it’s time to settle into yourself – not dropping into an altered state but coming into the now.

We’ve been doing the yoga thing in the Shed for 2.5 years, and it’s been taking on its own lustre. Hopefully, the space calls forth the best in people, as they manifest a sort of nonchalant effort in their practice of yoga.

I know how I feel when I’m in the room. I may come in distracted, lethargic or out of sorts, but then I just let the mood be as it is, and, without any trying, generally something shifts in a positive direction.

Tatra dhyanajamanasayam

Once consciousness is fixed in meditative absorption, it no longer contributes to the store of latent impressions.*

*The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, translation and commentary by Chip Hartranft.

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Posted in Dhyana, Philosophy, Wisdom, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

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A Sutra a Day: IV-0 – Freedom is a Balancing Act

Posted on December 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

Source: tetonyoga.com via Maiya on Pinterest

 

 

The bracket of dates that goes from Christmas Eve till a week or two after New Year’s is traditionally break time in Australia. It’s such a sensible and compassionate approach and one of the things I love about this country.

If you are fortunate enough to enjoy time off work in this period, you will have probably found yourself looking forward to it well in advance of the holidays. You fantasised about all the books you were going to read, the walks on the beach, the afternoon naps, and even leisurely cups of tea with too-long-neglected friends.

However here I am on Boxing Day – December 26th – and I’m noticing I’ve lost my momentum, a difficulty that’s exacerbated by having had two weeks vacation in New Zealand before Xmas. So, this morning I didn’t organise myself to do yoga practice, I haven’t picked up a book to read, and I feel a little queasy in my stomach from the combination and amount of food and drink I had for Xmas dinner. Hopefully, I’ll get in enough structure over the next weeks to be able to better enjoy my time off from structure :)

What does it mean to have free time? What does it mean to live without structure? What is ‘personal freedom’? Is that figure of speech an oxymoron?

As we move into the end of 2012, we have arrived at the last chapter of Patanjali’s Sutra, which is all about freedom (kaivalya). Having studied the ways that one’s mind can be refined through the practices of yoga, we will be looking at the possibilities that present for such a liberated mind – possibilities that ‘defuse the dramas of consciousness.’*

How very exciting!

*The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, translation and commentary by Chip Hartranft.

 

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Posted in Philosophy, Wisdom, Yoga practice, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

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A Sutra a Day: I-34 Simple Breathing

Posted on June 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

 

A few weeks ago I was having a great deal of trouble falling asleep. Nervous about teaching 9 sessions in two days to a completely new group of students, I needed sleep, but it eluded me.

One of the yogic techniques I tried was echo breathing. I’d read about this type of breathing in B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Life. Here’s how Mr. Iyengar describes how to do it and what it achieves:

“Exhale slowly and fully. Pause. Then exhale again. There is always a slight residue left in the lungs. In that residue is to be found the sludge of toxic memory and ego. In that brief further exhalation, let them go – and experience an even deeper state of relief from burden, of peace and emptiness. In inhalation we experience the full ‘I’, human potential fulfilled and realised…. In exhalation we experience the empty ‘I’, the divine void, a nothingness that is complete and prefect….”

Did the breathing put me to sleep? Well, unfortunately not. If I’d been able to stay with the cycles, it might have. But that mindstuff – citta vrtti – continuously shoved its way in and hijacked my attention to breathing. Eventually, my exhausted mind did just give itself up to sleep.

I’ve heard it said that the way it works is that pausing at the end of inhalation or exhalation creates a kind of gravitational pull on consciousness, focusing it inward, away from distraction.

It may not necessarily work as a sedative, but I did have plenty of energy for my heavy teaching load the next day, even with minimal sleep.

Prachchhardana vidharanabhyam va pranasya

Or by pausing after breath flows in or out.*

*The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, translation and commentary by Chip Hartranft

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Posted in Philosophy, Yoga practice, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga Therapy

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Head Down: Bum Up

Posted on February 3, 2012 | 5 Comments

Simon'12

We’ve had big rain storms this week on Mitchells Island, but there’s a much bigger storm going on out in the yoga world.

The brouhaha seems to stem from the December 2011 article in the N.Y.Times discussing how yoga might be responsible for injuring practitioners. The link to the article has been sent ’round the world thousands of times on the Internet, along with responses, counter-arguments, blog posts, and YouTube clips. It’s a lively discussion.

I’ve kept my head down until today when I received an impassioned email from an old friend as well as an email from one of the yoga associations I belong to. The one email gives further evidence of the dangers of yoga, and the other one states:

“No publicity is bad publicity if you know how to work with it.”

I’ve been steering a careful path through the world of yoga for more than 20 years. Sadly it’s a sphere that’s rife with factions, and it’s been that way for as long as I can remember. This debate may be fruitful in that it will put more of the essence of yoga back into yoga, rather than the calisthenics and dance approach that’s become so popular.

Who knows?

One of the things that I love about yoga is the way it brings people together in a meaningful way. I’ve just enjoyed the privilege of working with a family who came up to do yoga over the last 3 days in the Yoga Shed. And then, out of the blue, my old friend and yoga student/colleague Simon Borg-Olivier showed up to spend last night at our home. Our connection goes way back to the early 80′s.

Maybe the way yoga is practiced can be injurious at times but my experience is that the good it does and the evolution in consciousness that’s possible far outweighs any liabilities.

 

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Posted in Yoga Media, Yoga practice, Yoga teaching 

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