A friend recently asked me, "So what is it about yoga that draws you back, over and over, to the practice?" I paused...then just started talking, as I often do when processing my thoughts out loud. Here's sort of a summary of what I came up with. I wonder if you can relate?
In Western culture yoga is all about the pose, the physical performance of a body trick; about "exercising" and changing the shape of one's body (yoga butt!). It's about finding flexibility and strength and at a certain age, hoping yoga will stave off the aches and pains that threaten to slow us down. These are incredibly worthy goals and I had the same when I started to come to yoga classes a little over a decade ago.
What I've come to realize since then is that for me, yoga combines so many of the things I have explored in separate spiritual practices:
I once worked with a yoga/meditation teacher who led our little Sangha in occasional explorations of Pranayama -- intentional breathing techniques designed to elicit various responses from the nervous system.
A different meditation teacher taught me to meditate using a Sanskrit mantra to focus my mind, it being based on some elaborate and to me undecipherable interpretation of my birth moment in Vedic Astrology. I like my mantra and I still use it. I've also studied Mindfulness Based Meditation to calm my anxious nature.
I was drawn like a groupie to a rock band when I first heard a recording of Kirtan. I found the experience of chanting to the Divine (in Hindu tradition) to be exhilarating and deeply moving. I've gone to workshops, concerts, living room Kirtans, and taken a course of study called "Sound School". I still absolutely love Kirtan and have favorite Kirtan artists.
I've been a lifelong seeker of knowledge about the inner workings of my mind and heart and curious about how my life experiences inform the decisions I make on a daily basis. I've been deeply involved with Jungian-based personal growth work, both as a participant and a facilitator.
All of these practices twisted and twirled around each other, at times one being more prominent in my life than another, but "there" nonetheless.
When I deepened my understanding of Yoga by taking teacher training, I discovered I've spent my adult life preparing to find integration of my spiritual and psychological searching within yoga.
The Eight Limbs of Yoga incorporate all of it. Each limb is distinct, yet cannot truly stand alone if one is a dedicated yogi/yogini. They are practiced simultaneously and one informs the other in a dance of completion.
The Eight Limbs:
Yamas -- Universal Moral Constraints: how we interact with the world around us (the most well known of these is to practice non-violence)
Niyamas -- Personal Observances: how we live our lives with integrity and spirit
Asana -- Postures: the poses we are so familiar with, to help our bodies ready for meditation
Pranayama -- Mindful Breathing: controlling the breath for a certain effect
Pratyahara -- Turning Inward: withdrawing the senses to attend only to the present moment (eyes closed)
Dharana -- Concentration: focusing attention, perhaps on the breath, a mantra, a candle, an image; to prepare for meditation
Dhyana -- Meditation: a merging with the object of concentration such that one feels completely relaxed and at ease, no longer engaging in the Monkey Mind of the physical Ego self
Samadhi -- Union of the Self with the Object of Meditation; the Seeker become the Seer -- merging with higher consciousness without Ego; finite becomes infinite (some see this as the final passing of the physical mind/body; some as the ability of Enlightened Beings to completely and simultaneously inhabit two worlds -- the physical and the spiritual)
For me, the first seven limbs are achievable with practice, the eighth seems, at this point, to be in Guru territory for sure. But yoga doesn't set any one above another. We are all one -- manifestations of Universal Consciousness.
And if your belief system finds that kind of talk a little weird or wrong, that's OK. As one of my favorite Kirtan artists reminds her widely varied audiences, "We're not trying to convert anybody here"... She says the mantra/music/chant just gives us a place to rest our weary minds.
For example, through Kirtan or chanting (Dharana) we might find we prefer our eyes closed (Pratyahara), and in so doing, find moments of deep peace (Meditation). Our (Asana)-toned bodies will be strong and supple for sitting while enjoying the experience. The singing chant will naturally demand that our exhale is longer than our inhale (Pranayama) as we sing out, thus relaxing the nervous system. The words and music may become so much our focus that all else falls away (Dhyana). And all of this will encourage a loving, giving, compassionate re-entry into the physical world as we interact with others (Yamas) and continue to know and nurture ourselves (Niyamas). And with enough practice, I trust that Samadhi awaits as well.
Why yoga? Because, for me... Yoga is Life.
Namaste, donnajurene
Photo Credit: www.pixabay.com
