YOGA
To attain what was previously unattainable
To tie the mind together
To be one with the Divine
To attend all one's attention to the activity
To attain our goal of Yoga off the Mat we practice Yoga on the Mat.
TAPAS meaning to heat and cleanse is our physical practice on the mat with
asana and pranayama.
SVADYAYA meaning self study can be done both on the mat and off by bringing
unwavering attention to our thoughts, examining them and discarding that which is
not useful. There are many different ways of interpreting svadyaya. Whichever translation
is used the purpose is still the exposure of deeper layers of the Self.
ISVARAPRANIDHANA meaning love of the Divine can be practiced by Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga is action without clinging to the intended fruits of the action. Selfless action. It is Isvarapranidhana that illucidates our ultimate truth. Our progress unfolds as it is meant to unfold. There are countless effects unfolding from countless actions. Our lives are a myriad of happenings, each affecting someone else, everyone else affecting us. It is impossible to track where we ‘should’ be in all this. How fast we think we should be moving towards our goal is how fast according to us. But how could we possibly know when the time for change has come. Isvarapranidhana - laying all our actions at the feet of the Divine.
'The goals of Yoga are quite clear. In The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali it says;
Yogascittavrtti nirodhah,[1] ‘Restraint of the mind-stuff is Yoga.’
[1] The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sri Swami Satchinanda. Book 1. Sloka 2'
'Yoga is a way of revealing ourselves through practice of Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.'
'We need to learn to take the ordinary and deepen it. It is quite a challenge to let Yoga be ordinary.'
'Ayurvedic thought is that the very first thing that changes when the body moves towards disease is the breath. So it makes sense that this would be the first thing to change in order to bring the body back to health.'
