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September 30, 2019
So we have two levels of perception: One is deep within us and free of this film of avidyā, the other is superficial and obscured by avidyā.
The goal of yoga is to reduce the film of avidyā in order to act correctly.
one of the characteristics of avidyā is that it remains hidden from us.
The first branch of avidyā is what we often call the ego.
This branch is called asmitā in the Yoga Sūtra.
Finally, there is abhiniveśa, fear.
These four branches of avidyā, singly or together, cloud our perceptions. Through them avidyā is constantly active in our subconscious mind and as a result of this activity we end up feeling dissatisfied.
Yoga decreases the effects of avidyā so that true understanding can take place.
We notice avidyā more by its absence than its presence.
If we subscribe to yogic concepts, then everything that we see, experience, and feel is not illusion; it is true and real.
This concept is called satvāda.
Puruṣa denotes the position from which we can see; it is the power in us that enables us to perceive with accuracy.
One may ask, is it an expression of asmitā (the ego) when someone begins yoga because he or she wants to be better?
According to the Yoga Sūtra, the recognition and conquest of avidyā and its effects is the only ladder by which we can climb upward. The goal of wanting to make something better may be the first rung on the ladder.
If we could begin above this first rung, this desire for self-betterment, then perhaps we would not need yoga.
Tapas is a means by which we can keep ourselves healthy and cleanse ourselves inwardly. Tapas is often described as penance, mortification, and a strict diet. But its meaning in the Yoga Sūtra is the practice of āsanas and prāṇāyāma, that is, the physical and breathing exercises of yoga.
With the help of svādhyāya we get to know ourselves.
We should know who we are and how we relate to other people.
it is better to become slightly detached from our expectations and to pay more attention to the actions themselves.
Altogether, these three ways of being—health, inquiry, and quality of action—cover the entire spectrum of human endeavor.
Together they are known as kriyā yoga, the yoga of action.
The yoga of action, kriyā yoga, is the means by which we achieve yoga as a state of being.
yoga as a movement from one point to another, higher one that was previously beyond our reach.
In our practice we concentrate on the body, the breath, and the mind.
the purpose of yoga is to unify their actions.
Much more important than these outer manifestations is the way we feel the postures and the breath.
This principle of yoga is fulfilled only when we have practiced a particular āsana for a certain period of time and feel alert and unstressed as we practice it.
When we go into a posture or carry out a movement that feels tense, it is difficult to notice anything else besides that tension.
It is also possible to feel comfortable in an āsana while the mind is somewhere completely different. That is not āsana either.
The quality of our breath is extremely important because it expresses our inner feelings.
Recognizing our personal starting point begins with the exploration of the body, including the breath.
The reason why people have differing experiences in this situation is because some large movements are initiated in various ways by various people.
Observing the body in this way is the first step toward changing uncomfortable or inefficient habits of movement and posture that cause stiffness and ultimately hinder the flow of vital energy through the body.
The first step of our yoga practice is to consciously link breath and body.
For breath and movement to be coordinated, our mind must attentively follow their union. When we do this, inhalation and exhalation are no longer automatic but become a conscious process.
It requires determining whether it is the inhalation or the exhalation that is amplified or made easier by a certain movement, and then making sure that that breath is the one we combine with the movement on which we are focusing.
one of the basic principles of yoga—that is, to become fully involved with our actions.
The consciously directed breath supports and strengthens the natural coordination of breath and movement.
in order to amplify the natural breath, we breathe out in all exercises where a forward bend is the primary movement of the body.
By deliberately combining the backward bend with an inhalation, as shown in figure 3, you make the movement easier and more effective.
So if we combine the beginning of the twist with an exhalation, as shown in figure 4, we are following the natural pattern of breathing.
The rules for linking breath and movement are basically simple: when we contract the body we exhale and when we expand the body we inhale. Exceptions are made only when we want to create a particular effect in the āsana by altering the natural breathing pattern. As I have stated before, we do not simply inhale and exhale without attention, but instead we make sure that the breathing initiates the movement. The length of the breath will determine the speed of the movement.
Pausing at the end of each movement helps us remain conscious of both the movement and the breath.
While one goal is to direct the breath quite consciously during our āsana practice, we are also aiming at making our breathing—both the inhalation and the exhalation—fuller and deeper than it normally is.
I suggest that when we inhale we first fill the chest and then fill the abdomen, and as we exhale we release the abdomen first and then finally empty the upper lobes of the lungs in the chest region.
Let’s explore further the possibility of feeling the breath as it moves in and out. By doing this, the quality of our breathing while we are practicing āsanas gradually improves.
When practicing an āsana our attention should be directed toward the central point of the movement of breath.
However beautifully we carry out an āsana, however flexible our body may be, if we do not achieve the integration of body, breath, and mind we can hardly claim that what we are doing is yoga.
In yoga we are not creating something for others to look at.
We should endeavor to bring those same qualities of gentleness and steadiness to our āsana practice, all the while making sure that we exert progressively less effort in developing them.
