Pratyahara: Control of the Senses

Pratyahara: Control of the Senses

by Hannah Greenstreet

The fifth limb of yoga is abstract, complex, and requires drawing deep within to understand the intricate subtleties of our existence. This limb is called pratyahara and it is based on the withdrawal of the senses and our attachment to external objects. The word pratyahara means “to withdraw oneself from that which nourishes the senses.”  Pratyahara focuses on shifting our perceptions of reality by suspending outward reactive tendencies in order to pull that energy inward to be utilized in the body. Think of it as a retreat from outside stimulation. In the same way that yoga asana practice is meant to overcome the turning of the mind through intentional concentration, pratyahara embraces independence from external stimulants rather than living off of the thrills and sorrows of life around us.

By dissolving the attachments around us, we are fulfilled by the truth of direct experience as a sentient being. Getting intimate with our senses is not a simple task; for it requires sharp awareness and a conscious surrender to avoid the distractions of the exterior world.  So often in our daily reality, we are stimulated from the outside in.  This pratyahara reverses that concept and asks us to be vigilant with our perception within the boundaries of our being. Pratyahara is much harder to practice than other limbs like asana (posture) and pranayama (breathing) because it is a detailed look within which cannot be an easy process – it’s vulnerable, unknown, and silent. It gives us the chance to reveal our desires, work to avoid reacting to them and watch the inner body objectively with curiosity of existence. Pratyahara is the opportunity to drop further into our spiritual practice and discover our potential.

Pranayama: Breath Extension

Pranayama: Breath Extension

by Laura DeFreitas

The fourth limb of Patanjali’s eight-fold path is pranayama. Prana is often more simply translated as breath or energy.  Richard Freeman, is his book The Mirror of Yoga, states that prana can be more thoroughly understood to be “the substratum of all sensation, feeling, and thought, the medium through which all experience within the body presents itself.”  The word, ayama, means to not restrict or control – ‘a’ being a negation in the Sanskrit language and yama meaning restraint, as in the first limb of yoga. Together these words have come to be known as the set of breath extension techniques that affect the nervous system and subtle body in various ways in order to prepare the body and mind for the inner limbs of the yoga practice. Rather than elaborate on these varied breath practices and their effects, I’d like to focus on the breath as it relates to asana or posture practice.

There are many subdivisions of prana that describe its wide range of movements and patterns inside the body, but two are the most important for yoga practice, prana and apana.  Prana is the physical pattern of rising up, blossoming and spreading out. The prana pattern is associated with the inhalation and is said to dwell at the core of the heart, or the anahata chakra. Note that the word prana is used to describe both the pattern of the inhaling breath as well as the general idea of the breath.  Prana’s direct opposite is apana, the pattern of downward, inward and rooting movement in the body.  The apana pattern is said to live in the muladhara chakra, which is located in the center of the pelvic floor.  If you imagine a tree you can envision the joining of an expansive pattern with a grounding pattern.  As with the tree, these patterns are intimately linked – without the stability and nourishment the roots provide the expansion at the top of the tree would not be possible, and without this expansion there is not point in rooting.  They are like two lovers – yin and yang in the Chinese Taoist system – each in the heart of the other.  We may separate them in our minds in order to think about and experience them, but ultimately they can never truly be separated. 

These patterns initiate and inform the movement and alignment of the body in asana in such subtle and obvious ways that the entire practice can come to be seen as one continuous pranayama practice.  The breath is constantly providing a ripple of sensation for the mind to observe to the extent that it becomes the internal organizing principal of asana, the foundational form of practice within hatha yoga.  For example, the transition into the first position of the sun salutation when arms sweep upward and outward mirrors the prana pattern while the second position expresses the apana pattern by moving down and into a standing forward fold.  On a deeper and more complex level, these patterns of breath inform the positioning of each and every one of the body’s joints in each and every posture. Further, each joint continually combines a different degree of prana and apana thereby balancing primary action with counteraction making it a non-static, constantly changing and dynamic experience. Freeman states that, "the underlying process of hatha yoga is to explore the relationship of the inhale and the exhale; to discover the root of apana in the prana, and the expansion of prana in the apana." We do this initially by uniting the ends of the breath through observing and cultivating opposite physiological patterns.  When we inhale and the blossoming pattern naturally dominates we allow the mind to drop down into the roots of the body and the breath. To use the example above, when inhaling into the first form of the sun salutation we concentrate on the perineum and beyond into the legs and feet, which our extensions of the pelvic floor.  In this way we remain connected to the earth rather than floating off into the mental projections inherent to the stimulation at the top of the inhale.  Then when we exhale into the second form of the sun salutation and the rooting pattern is naturally dominant, we allow our mind to remain in the center of the heart. In this way our heart stays open and we are not overwhelmed by the seriousness of the exhalation that quite naturally brings sensations of fear, anxiety, dissolution and death.  An example of this joining of opposites is the movement of the shoulder join in reverse namaste (hands folded behind the heart in prayer position). One the exhalation we use the primary action of internal rotation (apana patern) to enter into the basic form of the upper arm bone but then, on inhalation, the counteraction (external rotation) is applied to keep the heart open as we fold into parsvottanasna or pyramid pose. The learning curve is such that we may first discover and cling to one extreme end of the prana-apana continuum, then, in compensation we may grasp onto its opposite.  In time, though this back and forth continues, it lessens and brings about a sense of integration and balance.  Through consistent practice we may eventually experience physically how the intertwining of the two breathing patterns affect the entire structure of the body and mind. 

With the opening of the “yogic body” in asana practice we learn to consciously join the prana and apana patterns.  We are able to draw the essence of the apana pattern up through the central axis of the body while simultaneously pressing down on the prana pattern causing them to ignite in the roots of the navel. The movement of breath can be imagined as bright tubes opening from one central channel into many branches that then return into a single tube within the core of the body.  In hatha yoga these tubes are referred to as nadis. Nadi means “little river.”  For most of us, our small rivers of breath and energy are all out of balance. Some flow a little, some not at all and still others are flood the system. Different classical yogic texts refer to different numbers of nadis but all give special attention to the ida, pingala and sushusmna nadis.  The ida nadi is considered to be the moon channel, which is said to be cooling and calming and is accessible through the left nostril.  The pingala nadi is considered to be the sun channel, which is heating and energizing and is accessible through the right nostril. These two “side channels” are also associated with different states of mind and it is said that when you stimulate one of these two primary channels you experience characteristic moods or modes of thinking associated with the temperament of that side.  The sushumna nadi is the empty channel right in the center of the core of the body and can be accessed through the root of the palate. Anatomically, the root of the palate begins in the soft palate in the back of the roof of the mouth where the uvula hangs down.  He root is like a cup immediately underneath the pituitary gland.   Yogic texts describe an endlessly extending flower called the sahasrara chakra, or the thousand-petaled lotus, originating at the root of the palate and opening through the crown of the head.  From the base of the sahasrara is the gateway to the central channel.  Here the three nadis, the central staff of the sushumna, the ida and the pingala from a caduceus.  Just like the wand of Hermes in Greek mythology, the two side channels wrap around the central staff so the two opposing qualities of the breath find their resolution and balance in the central axis. 

The practice of yoga asana and pranayama prepare the body and mind for this resolution.  If you even have a glimpse of the uniting of the complementary principles of sun and moon, prana and apana, inhale and exhale, something begins to occur in the pelvic floor.  According to yoga theory, the two streams of breath are allowed to unite when the blockage, or kundalini, between them is removed.  The root of the word kunda is “coil” thus leading to the image of a coiled serpent lying asleep at the base of the spine where prana and apana are attempting to unite.  To again quote Richard Freeman, “pranayama could be explained as various techniques for breathing that consciously join prana and apana as a means for freeing the inner breath so that it can unfold into its true liberated state.”  When the goddess of prana is freed the inner breath, the kundalini, uncoils and stands up straight along the central channel.  In other words, the breath becomes still and is concentrated in the central channel, allowing the normal world-constructing and world-interpreting activities of the mind to temporarily suspended and the mind enters a state of pure awareness. Recall Yoga Sutra I.3 – yoga is the suspension of the fluctuations of consciousness (yogas-citta-vrtti-nirodhah).  In the context of asana practice we skillfully extend the length and smoothness of the inhale and exhale as we churn and wring out the body in order to allow the prana and apana to unite and flow easily into an unobstructed central channel so that deep levels of meditation or samadhi can arise. Because the image of the goddess standing upright in the base of the pelvis is so vivid and colorful it is important to remember that the process of yoga is really about the observation of what is and not the reduction of it to our theories or images of what we think it should be.  Internal imagery may help us to observe and experience the subtle and obvious effects of the breath but if we hold onto them too tightly we may miss the experience we are seeking all together.  So as a final metaphor for the breath, through our practice we must cultivate the razor’s edge of intelligence that occurs in the balance of discriminative awareness (inhalation) and complete non-attachment (exhalation) in order to see everything, just as it is, without the mind’s overlay of theories, preconceptions and expectations.  This is the yoga of action – on and off the mat.

This brief, and albeit superficial, description of pranayama is based on primarily on my experience at Richard Freeman’s 2012 Teacher’s Intensive and my own personal experiences with asana and pranyama over the last ten years.  Richard’s book “The Mirror of Yoga” is highly recommended to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the concepts presented above.

Asana: Posture Practice

Asana: Posture Practice

by Hannah Greenstreet

The third limb of Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga is asana. The Sanskrit word asana translates as the verb “to sit”, a simple, yet profound posture. In this seated state, we have the opportunity to explore the depth of the mind and draw on the fabric of truth in order to experience yoga's ultimate aim of self-realization.  Asana is often more loosely translated as posture practice. Although asana practice is what the Western world thinks of as the entirety of yoga, there is a comprehensive and vast world of yoga that reaches far beyond our physical bodies. Patanjali, the author credited with the Yoga Sutras, mentions asana in only two of the 196 sutras. Within these two sutras, Patanjali conveys the need for each posture, or asana, to be both steady and comfortable (II.47).  In this way the practice of all asasna has the power to prepare the body and mind for the latter and more internal limbs of yoga, including long periods of seated meditation.  These two qualities open up the possibility to remain seated for long periods of time in order to allow the mind to reveal its innermost workings, struggles, desires, needs, and inherent goodness. Without inviting the patience of sitting in silence and being steady in focus, the mind will continue to turn reality into fiction, or chitta vritti (I.2).

In order to discover this balanced state of steadiness and ease, it is essential that we reach past our individual being and merge with the infinite and divine. In our practice of asana we must also allow forced effort, tension, and stress to fade away from the pose so that we can be content. This requires a motionless ease – a blending of relaxation with the subtle but strong concentration of the mind. It is not about becoming passive, checked out or avoiding reality. Rather, this state of tranquility, although contrary to the majority of society, is radiant in consciousness and transforms the negative messages of the mind to a positive light of truth in our existence. Initially we cultivate this razor's edge union through a series of postures linked with breath.  The field of sensation offered by the body and breath become a tether for the mind, harnessing it's energy to the present moment.  With consistent practice, the mind and body are able to remain in this harmonious state of spacious attention for longer periods of time and assuming a formal meditative seat comes naturally.  By being able to achieve this state in both formal seated meditation and yoga asana practice, we offer ourselves freedom from the boundaries of our mind and liberate to the infinite spirituality that permeates into our lives and throughout our community.

This sacred posture is a practice in itself, exceeding a series of postures that compose a class or home practice. It is an artistic map of something bigger than ourselves; the chance to slow, steady and reassure ourselves that we are important, good enough, and a small (very small) part of the whole. In this posture, we find the sensations and awareness to observe the negative, positive and in between. Therefore, asana and meditation are synonymous, exposing the root of our suffering and inviting the space to find the solution. And somehow, although this is an individual and personal experience, it drives connectivity and unity with others and those who have come before us. It is without judgment, without explanation, and without performance. The experience is the complete embodiment of purity in the present. It is a simple choice to take a simple seat and simply observe…may you enjoy! 

Ishvara Pranidhana: Surrender to God

Ishvara Pranidhana: Surrender to God

by Beau Boucher

Ishvara Pranidhana culminates the Niyamas, those things we should do. Practice of the previous Niyama, Svadhyaya, leads to the realization that divinity is present within each one of us. Ishvara Pranidhana is the practice of surrendering to and dedicating yourself to that divinity. Divinity is known by many names throughout the world, and by even more throughout history- for simplicity lets say God. The practice of yoga then, is the science of God realization. Yoga is a science. Often in the yoga world there is the implied notion that science is materialistic and devoid of spiritual value, but science is not the enemy of God. Science is God explaining God to God through the phenomenon of the human nervous system. Chemistry, physics, mathematics- these are the languages of God.

    

Yoga is often defined as union of the body and mind, or individual consciousness with universal supreme consciousness. The fact is, God is already here. God is already inside each one of us, and when you shift your perception in this manner, the whole world shifts with you. Yoga asks us to adopt the inner attitude that the person or individual is not doing anything. That everything one does comes from God, and belongs to God. Every breath, every action, every moment, is a divine movement of the eternal. As long as you think of yourself as a person, you'll see persons everywhere, but once you relinquish the personal, then you'll see the universe everywhere, you'll see God everywhere. In yogic philosophy, the practice of adoration and devotion to God is referred to as Bhakti.

    

To practice Bhakti is to practice Love. This means you keep your attention on love- you think about love, express love, respond to any gesture of love from your environment- and most importantly, you radiate love. Love is a force, like electromagnetism or gravity. What is gravity? It has no mass and is invisible, yet it's a known force that shapes the fabric of our reality. Love, as well, is a force that shapes the fabric of our reality. Love has the ability to rearrange the atoms of one's face into a smile, to cause the release of beneficial biochemicals throughout the body- love has the power to heal. It's known that if babies do not receive love and affection they have a strong chance of developing psychosocial dwarfism. This means if love and affection are absent, regardless of nutrition, the child's body will not utilize Human Growth Hormone even though it is present. This means that without love - the infinite intelligence that builds the human body from a single cell to trillions of cells, loses motivation. Without the force of love from another human being, divine consciousness is rendered incapable of organizing atoms into a healthy child. Love is not a metaphysical abstract concept- love is a tangible force, and once you create a vibration of love around you, you inevitably attract loving relationships and the ability to heal others simply with the vibration of your presence. Ishvara Pranidhana is the practice of radiating love in all directions at all times- for if God is everywhere, if God is infinite- then so too must be our love and devotion.

Svadhyaya: Self-Study

Svadhyaya: Self Study

by Amrito Cross

This month’s theme and the fourth niyama is Svadhyaya: the study of sacred texts, or self study.  Most of us have been trained that the way to improve our experiences is to get other people and circumstances to change.  Have you noticed that this doesn’t work?  That’s because they are our experiences, and the common denominator in all of them is ourselves.  If we keep being the same – same thoughts, feelings, words and actions – we will keep having the same experiences.  Self study is about looking in a mirror and observing the light of our true Self, as well as noticing the habits and patterns of the small self, personality or ego identity.  The more we know our higher Self, the more we can observe our small self with neutrality and compassion, noticing the habits of thinking, feeling, speaking and acting which are no longer serving our highest good.  This simple awareness is the first step in making a change.  This is freedom.

If looking in the mirror for self-awareness is our intention, then anything and everything can be the mirror, from studying sacred texts, to interacting with a grocery checker, your partner, family or friends, to paying taxes, dealing with an illness, working, asana practice or riding your bike.

Often, the first habit to overcome in order to allow self study, is the habit of thinking that what’s bothering us is to do with something external.  Try this experiment: next time you’re upset, stop, take a deep breath and ask yourself what you’re upset about.  In the middle of your answer, interrupt yourself, and say, “No it’s not that.  I’m upset because of the way I’m looking at this.  How can I look at this differently?”

Tapas: Discipline

Tapas: Discipline 

by Beau Boucher

Tapas, the third Niyama, is translated literally as “to burn.” What does Patanjali mean by burn, what are we burning, and why are we burning it? When we incorporate the concept of Tapas in our Sadhana, our lifelong practice, we burn on two levels: physical and mental. The practice of yoga gives us an opportunity to manipulate and ultimately transform both of these dimensions. Gary Kraftsow refers to the process of yoga as: a process of self-awareness that leads to a deeper sense of self-understanding, and through this self-understanding we enter the process of self-transformation. What Gary describes is the process of burning, just like Nataraja dancing the destructive Tandava in order to bring forth new creation.

    

We can illustrate this metaphor of burning a little more clearly if we take a look at yoga classes. Lets divide yoga classes into two categories, Yin and Yang. Yang being the more active, sweaty classes and Yin being more relaxed, calming classes. Yang classes give us a chance to purify the physical body, remove toxins, develop good posture and healthy movement patterns, increase muscle and decrease fat, strengthen every system of the body, find focus and balance, and just generally feel good in our skin. In Yang we burn away and eliminate undesirable things on the physical plane. In Yin we have time to contemplate, to observe- and naturally we move more into the mental aspect. Yin is a practice of acceptance, patience, observance, and non-reactivity. Yin gives us an opportunity to take inventory of our mental space, a chance to become aware of those things that are no longer serving us, and to throw these negative patterns into the fire and allow them to dissolve. As J. Krishnamurti put it, “the highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgement.”

    

So we can think of Tapas, or this burning, as a process of transformation. We develop self-discipline, overcome obstacles, and make sacrifices for the greater good. We burn away our negative attributes, in order to become the highest version of ourselves, strong enough to not only take care of ourselves, but to have enough strength to help those around us. Every time you step to your mat, you can think of Tapas and know the reason you're stepping into the fire is bigger than yourself.

Santosha: Contentment

Santosha: Contentment

by Laura DeFreitas

John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.”  A culture raised on the grass-is-greener principal, in a country indoctrinated in the church of hard work dogma, is it any wonder that while we hurriedly prepare for life’s next big event and advertisers magnify this sense of longing in us, the second niyama, santosha or contentment, is constantly just out of reach. Yoga reveals the path to the innate calm and abiding stillness that we are. 

Patanjali states in Sutra 2.5, “Lacking self-awareness, one mistakes that which is impermanent, impure, distressing and empty of self for permanence, purity, happiness, and self.”  This ignorance weds us to a perpetual wheel of suffering.  We think we are free but in truth, we spend vast amounts of energy clinging to that which gives us pleasure and avoiding that which puts our pleasure at risk or we see as repulsive.  Further, we expect our preferences to be a source of eternal bliss yet their achievement is often anti-climatic or disappointing and, without much ado, we are off striving after the next “if only” key to supreme happiness. Yoga philosophy tells us that all things are inherently neutral.  In truth, the full spectrum of sensation, energy, emotion and thought are simply exquisite feedback mechanisms aiding us in our journey to become sensitive and effective caretakers of our being.  It is our personalized labels that color experiences in a way that makes them appealing or repulsive and keeps us spinning.  All this maneuvering to between pleasure and avoidance shows up as the physically feeling of gripping in the body.  The first nine months of my relationship was long distance.  Each time my boyfriend and I would have the chance to see each other there was a simultaneous clinging to the joy of being together and a tense defense against the unpleasantness of our inevitable parting.  Seeking and avoiding are expensive uses of our energy that result in the failure to appreciate the moment.  Yoga Nidra teacher, Richard Miller, offers that in order to set energy free to experience the moment, we not only agree to ride life’s waves but we actively welcome them.  As Bob Marley put it, “Some people feel the rain.  Others just get wet.”  We can always trace our emotional disturbances back to ourselves and thus, we keep ourselves out of contentment we so desperately seek. 

The 13^th century mystic poet Jelaluddin Rumi expresses this coalescence of extremes:

Out beyond of ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field.  I’ll meet you there. 

When the soul lies down in that grass,

The world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase each other

doesn’t make any sense.

Finding and remaining in this place of equanimity is simple but not easy.  As with most things, it takes consistent practice over a long period of time. Each time we step onto the yoga mat we have an opportunity to cultivate contentment by genuinely listening to the many cues our body/mind offers and choosing to honor that feedback by modifying or intensifying the pose as appropriate.  This is done without comparison to what the pose looked like yesterday or in anticipation of what it will look like tomorrow. The balance of effort and ease in any given yoga posture is a constantly changing dance with the breath. Quoting the late master teacher Pattabhi Jois, “Yoga is an internal practice.  The rest is just a circus.”  An advanced practitioner hovers on the cusp of his or her intelligent edge of sensation - a place that is neither too much nor too little.

Contentment also requires a healthy dose of surrendering to the great many things in life that we cannot control.  There is a paradox to contentment: the more we seek it or need it to look a certain way, the more it eludes us.  It is easy to feel happy when life is going our way but what about when chaos abounds?  Discontentment is the illusion that there can be something else in the moment.  There isn’t.  The moment is complete exactly as it is.  The paradox of contentment allows us to appreciate what we have and to fall in love with our life.  Next time you are feeling bored, depressed or overwhelmed consider making a gratitude list.  Whether mental or hand-written, list everything you are grateful.  From the moon and stars to the shoes on your feet nothing is too small.  I have a gratitude jar.  In it are little reminders of life’s fullness that I will review at the year’s end.  Practicing gratitude cultivates the fertile soil for contentment to take root by keeping us centered in the joy and abundance of our life. Contentment is like a tall tree so rooted in the Earth no storm can topple it.  

Saucha: Cleanliness & Purity

Saucha: Cleanliness & Purity

by Laura DeFreitas

Before we begin our study of the second limb of yoga, niyama (personal observances), let us review the five facets of the first limb of yoga, yama (universal observances). The yamas acknowledge that we are social creatures living in a world full of other life forms. The five yamas invite us to see past our individual needs in order to consider the needs of the collective. Ahmisa (non-violence) turns us from harming self and others through the cultivation of kindness and compassion.  Satya (truthfulness) turns us from lies and half-truths to expressing our individuality and authenticity.  Asteya (non-stealing) turns us from theft to developing new skills and abilities.  Brahmacharya (non-excess) turns us from greed to a balanced appreciation of pleasure and joy.  Aparigraha (non-hoarding) turns us from attachment to intimacy without possession. These five universal disciplines form an inner compass that guides us into harmony and right relationship with the universe and its inhabitants.  The niyamas on the other hand help to develop our relationship with ourselves by shifting attention from a social focus to an internal focus through the study of five personal observances.

The first niyama, is saucha. The saucha is a twofold process that includes cleanliness and purity.  Cleanliness is a process of external scrubbing that affects our outer appearance. Purification cleanses our insides and affects our internal essence.

Often external cleanliness is defined by environment.  Soil outside the yoga studio is Mother Earth’s magic; inside the studio its just plain dirt!  The four walls of the studio create a boundary that defines it as a safe and sacred space devoted to self-inquiry and study.  Cleanliness might manifest as studio etiquette that includes anything from a pre-practice hygiene regimen to “propasana,” the mindful replacement of props after class.  

Yogic philosophy places great emphasis on both external cleanliness and internal purification. Saucha is important in the yoga tradition because a great energy lies, mostly dormant, within each one of us.  This is the energy of consciousness or the True Self.  We have all felt glimpses of this energy and linger in the residue of its movement.  I call them “ah-ha” moments.  My teacher, Richard Freeman, refers to them as aesthetic experiences: moments when beauty captures us in wonder; moments when love and gratitude fills our eyes with tears; moments when a deep sense of knowing guides us from within; moments when life-force electrifies the body; moments when contentment fills us with ease and well-being.  Yoga students spend a lifetime searching for enlightenment when in fact it is always there waiting, slightly obscured, and just beneath the surface of a very dusty lens of awareness. Making ourselves available for these moments of Truth, is the work of saucha.  As we cleanse ourselves from the heaviness and clutter of physical and mental toxins we gain clarity and increase our ability to meet each moment with integrity and freshness.

Yogis have developed many elaborate purification practices many of which seem bizarre and uncomfortable by today’s standards.  Fortunately other, more approachable, purification practices exist. Yoga asana (posture), breath techniques (pranayama), meditation (dhyana) and the following of an ethical system such as the yamas and niyamas purify our vessel physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically. Cleansing need not be weird or extreme.  It can be as simple as drinking more water and setting aside quite time to process unfinished business. Cleansing also means being transparent with ourselves.  It means we neither hide nor cling to our thoughts and feelings so we are able to witness the fullness of the moment by allowing it to be as it is.  Deborah Adele offers, “ (saucha) asks us to subtract the illusions we impose on the moment, it also asks us to gather ourselves together so that our whole Self shows up.” Saucha invites us to make full and honest contact with the moment so there is nothing lost and no regrets.

Aparigraha: Non-Hoarding

Aparigraha: Non-Hoarding

by Breezy Jackson

This month, we focus on the fifth and final Yama: aparigraha or non-hoarding. The concept of aparigraha extends beyond the procurement of and attachment to objects. It can also apply to food, relationships, and ideas about yourself and the world around you.  The essentail practice of aparigraha is about answering the question - what is enough? 

Desire is a perfectly human quality.  We might desire certain physical or intellectual qualities, a relationship, food or material objects.  Though desire in and of itself is neither inherently positive or negative, when out of balance it can lead to suffering. Untempered desire leads to more desire to control what cannot be controlled.  Practitioners of aparigraha recognize the transient nature of the world, and instead of trying to control what cannot be controlled, they open their hearts and hands to possibility. Where some might see emptiness or ending, these practitioners see space and new beginning. Instead of living in nostalgia of better times or waiting for the better life ahead, they greet each moment with wonder and gratitude, watch it pass, and greet the next moment. In addition, those that observe aparigraha know that every being is inherently worthy of love and respect, and they do not require outside reassurance of their intrinsic nature. Finally they adhere to this simple wisdom: happiness is not having what you want, happiness is wanting what you have.

This month consider the following exercise relating to aparigraha. What attachments and cravings do you notice in your life? Watch arise without judgment, and then fade away. 

Brahmacharya: Non-Excess

Brahmacharya: Non-Excess

by Laura DeFreitas

The Yamas & the Niyamas are the foundational principles of all Yogic thought. Yoga is a philosophy of existence that extends beyond the physical postures that have facilitated its rise in mainstream repute. Yama is the first limb of Patanjali’s Eight Fold Path of Yoga. The Sanskrit word Yama literally translates as “restraints.” In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali details five universal Yamas: non-violence (ahmisa), truthfulness (satya), non-stealing (asteya), non-excess (brahmacharya) and non-possessiveness (aparigraha). Over the course of the last three months Mountain Yoga has explored three of the five Yamas. This brings us to the fourth jewel, brahmacharya. Brahma is the Sanskrit word for Creative Force or God. Charya means, “to follow.” Though brahmacharya is classically interpreted to mean celibacy or abstinence, it has been secularized for today’s modern practitioner and is often understood as moderation. Yet the practice of non-excess can also be seen in an expansive light that invites us to welcome the sacredness of all life through a careful attendance to each moment as holy, and this dear ones, includes our sexuality.

We live in a culture of excess. We overdo food, work, sex, entertainment, material possessions and exercise. Not to call anyone lazy but some of us even overdo relaxatio. Why do we continually move beyond the place of contentment into excess? Yogic thought tells us that it is because our mind has an emotional investment in certain foods or activities. As we begin to become more aware of the ways in which we indulge in excess, it is important to discern the difference between what the body truly needs and the story the mind is telling us. In her book “The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice,” Deborah Adele shares:
“We are on this world, in part, to feel enjoyment and pleasure. If we are in pleasure and not addiction, we are practicing brahmacharya. If we are feeding our mental stories and have moved past bodily comfort, we are in addiction and out of harmony with this guideline….Non-excess is not about non-enjoyment. The questions before us are: Are you eating the food, or is the food eating you? Are you doing the activity, or is the activity doing you?”

A discussion of brahmacharya wouldn’t be complete without some mention of its implications on sexual energy. Someone once shared a definition of brahmacharya that stuck with me, though the person’s name did not. This person said that in practicing the first three Yamas – non-violence, truthfulness and non-stealing - within our sexual relations we, by default, practice brahmacharya. This definition is particularly relevant when considered within the framework of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. The Yoga Sutras are a series of 196 terse aphorisms that define the method and ultimate aims of Yoga. Sutra means thread. The Yoga Sutra is a carefully woven and masterful tapestry in which no word is superfluous and each thread relies upon the previous. The order in which the Yamas appear in the Yoga Sutra therefore holds significance just as kleshas (afflictions) appear in geniuses order; ignorance (adviya) being the field in which all other root obstructions grow. I digress but I hope you will humor me and give this idea some consideration.

If we find ourselves living in the throws of addiction in any facet of our life, a period of fasting or celibacy can be very useful in returning to a place of balance. These practices are powerful tools that pull in the reins, cultivate contentment and help us to regain our center. We have all, at some point or another, moved beyond the line of bodily satisfaction and discovered lethargy. That’s the thing about overindulgence; it smothers our life force like too many logs on a fire. Practicing non-excess preserves the life force within us so we may live with clarity and purity.

Brahmacharya beckons us to acknowledge the sanctity of all life and the interconnectedness of all beings. It invites us to open to the magic and fullness of each and every moment. When every task, no matter how mundane or familiar, becomes an opportunity to be amazed an avenue for gratitude is created. With an attitude of gratitude, there is no need for excess. At times, I struggle with a nagging sense of dullness that leaves me feeling sad and afraid. Deborah Adele suggests that this is a result of maintaining too fast a pace for too long. I concur. In my world this pace eventually results in living life on autopilot. She also states that we wear our busyness like a badge and go to bed with a sense of accomplishment because we checked a lot of things off our task list. “The ego likes to feel important, and it doesn’t feel very important when I am resting.” Deborah has me pegged. The desire to get comfortable in the uncomfortable place of stillness was one of the promises that first drew me to Yoga. Though I have learned to sit in silence, honor my limits and make time for the spaciousness of Mother Nature, I am still a recovering Type-A Personality. As I write these words, I can’t help but be amused and honored by how the process of Yoga continues to stealthily grant me opportunities (i.e. writing about non-excess) for self-inquiry and growth.
Brahmacharya reminds us that we are embodied to serve the world with our passion and that that vitality is best cultivated through moderation, not excess. In the words of Howard Thurman, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Asteya: Non-Stealing

Asteya: Non-Stealing

by Jennifer Fuller

Asteya “Non-Stealing” the third Jewel of Patanjali’s Yama’s invites us to live in integrity and reciprocity.  Well, it is not as simple as thou shall not steal thy neighbor’s snow blower. It is far more complex, and requires deep introspection with in each of us to fully unearth the true abundance, that lies beneath this ethical precept. Asteya encourages students of yoga to diminish their desire to rob energy, money, beauty, abundance, wealth, and confidence from others, and instead turn inwards evaluating there own internal resources. Students are encouraged to receive from others, but only that which is freely given. The goal as a student of this long-standing tradition is to surround oneself with people that are supportive of our betterment, and this results is a treasure chest of absolute abundance, comparable to no wealth on earth! In essence, the word Asteya is rooted in integrity.

“Desire or want is the root cause of stealing” Swami Sivananada

It is only by our own nature that we look outside of ourselves in search of happiness. In this search we end up in a game of comparison, envy, jealousy, all of which are a forms of stealing. An individual is not only stealing from the other person whom they have focused on, but they are stealing from themselves. We ultimately lose sight of all of the blessings, and abundance that we have in our own lives by comparing ourselves to other people. As a human being, it is so easy to get caught up in the external high light reel of another’s life, but the problem arises when we truly do not understand the individual’s situation or circumstances. Our actions become harmful, such as slanderous words, harmful statements, or just feelings of inferiority or superiority. Instead of embarking on a mental journey of equality with each individual we encounter.

To practice Asteya we must as yoga practioner’s, students and teachers alike, shed our layers, and remember we are united in community, and we are all rich in our own divinity, which connects us all from a deep source. We are here to support each other, build each other up, and lift each other when we are down. 

A key ingredient in acquiring the ability to claim "integrity" in thought, word, practice, and deed: humility.

Deborah Adele states in her book the Yamas and Niyamas, ‘That stealing from others we are comparing ourselves, which sends energy into others lives in unhealthy ways. If we find ourselves lacking, we feel cheated or slighted (less than), if we find ourselves superior we feel arrogant (better than)”. We may act out these scenarios in an attempt to one up each other, or put each other down through snide comments, talking behind someone’s back, speaking frequently and highly of yourself without giving back or listening to the other person.

As humans we are raised to take ownership of things; my car, my house, my kids, my forest, my friends. But, through the study of Asteya we begin to digest the concept that everything here on earth is not our possession, and by staking claim or ownership, or property rights to people, places, or material possessions we are stealing from the earth itself. These things; cars, houses, friends, lakes, mountains, rivers, friends, and children they are mere gifts. We begin to see that they are beautiful blessings that have been bestowed into our lives filling them full of abundance. We do not own them, we are simple stewards to them, and when we begin to shift our perspective we begin to see the abundance that is truly encompassing our everyday lives. Then we can begin to give back, and share this abundance with the world around us.

Stealing from yourself can also occur; this happens when we put our selves down, part take in negative self talk, stop believing in ourselves, lose motivation, self sabotage, experience low self esteem, place to high of standards on ourselves, criticize ourselves, judge ourselves, lack will power, lack self control, or part take in any other form of self abuse. Overcoming this part of Asteya can be the most difficult! This is why it is most critical to form a community, for all of us join together in support of one another, to encourage each other and uplift one another.

Aadil Palhivala writes that the "stealing" refers to the "stealing that grows from believing we cannot create what we need."

This week practice a simple self-evaluation on Asteya: First evaluate how you might be stealing from others, where you might be comparing yourself to others, or placing yourself either above someone, or below them. Begin to ask yourself why? Take a few minutes to journal your reflections. Now can you shift and become a forklift for those around you? Can you begin to lift up and give back to all those you come into contact with, so that everyone whom you encounter this month feels uplifted when they are around you?

Remember you have everything you need, and the universe has your back! You are always supported and always loved!

Satya: Truthfulness

Satya: Truthfulness

by Scott Nanamura

The second Yama of Patanjal's eight-fold path is Satya.  Satya loosely translates into English as "truth" or "reality".  It is a term of power due to its purity and meaning and has become the emblem of many peaceful social movements.  The philosophical meaning of the word "Satya" is "unchangeable", "that which has no distortion", "that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person", "that which pervades the universe in all its constancy."  Human life progresses through different stages, from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to youth, and youth to old age.  It is through these changes that people progress in the form world.  That is why human life or its receptacle, the body, is not Satya.  Another notion of truth implies a higher order, a higher principle or a higher knowledge.  Satya is what one becomes aware of upon becoming Bodhisattva (enlightened or awakened person).  

Ahimsa: Non-Violence

Ahimsa: Non-Violence

by Amrito Cross

This month’s theme is Ahimsa: non-violence, non-harming, non-judging – and the positive aspect: compassion.  I’m choosing to focus on non-judging because it leads to compassion;  and because judging is what comes before deliberate harm or violence.  Before we can deliberately cause harm to another, we have to have already judged them as separate, less-than or wrong.  In judging (even positively) we are not fully present for the experience in this moment. 

In a culture in which we are trained to only trust and value our analytical, judging, left brain, how can we stop judging?  Practice!  And before we go there, let’s be clear: we need those left brain functions for our survival and for things like balancing check books and knowing to stop at a red light, but we don’t have to have the analytical mind in charge all the time. 

Here’s a simple technique to practice letting go of judgments.  Choose a tree and gaze at it.  If there are none near you right now, you can use one from the picture above.  As you gaze, notice all the labels that come up (tall, short, green, dark, light, healthy, unhealthy, etc.) and let them go.  Continue to gaze, to release the labels (judgments) and simply be present with the tree.  Notice what happens within you and to your relationship with the tree.  When I do this, I find myself feeling more relaxed, expansive and loving.  I feel a loving connection with the tree.  The more I practice this with trees, the more I find it’s possible with everything and everyone.   What do you experience with this tree-gazing practice?