As part of my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training we are required to submit three book reviews. One required reading is The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar. As I submitted my online report to my instructor today, I thought you might find the summary relevant to your own current situation. Below you will find a 12 minute video that I taped during my own practice; I hope it will quiet your mind and restore balance and energy to your body. Enjoy this practice of Sun Salutations. Movement heals.
The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice
There are so many parts of this book that I identify with; particularly now, in light of the coronavirus, chapter 14 describes “Nine Obstacles on the Yoga Way.” I can relate to the obstacles of illness, lethargy, doubt, haste or impatience, fatigue, distraction, ignorance, inability to take a new step, and loss of confidence. These are the same obstacles faced by most any individual attempting to embark on new health goals, fitness programs, job opportunities, or relationships.
Just yesterday I spent hours trying to develop a couple of mindful movement/Pilates videos to share as part of Home Training. Do you know my biggest obstacle? Myself! I could not stand to see myself on camera and I criticized every angle from how I spoke, to how I looked, to how I moved! Talk about creating obstacles to personal growth. However, even as my mind was filled with negative thoughts, my higher self was practicing breath work, practicing cultivating a positive energy level, experiencing change through asana and physical movement. Through elements of breath work I was able to quiet the mind and simply focus on practicing the art of Pilates and movement. I felt much better at the end of the 4 series that I recorded. Whether they are watched by others or not, my own internal shift cultivated by my practice created a much better home for my family to quarantine!
“What is the relationship between citta, the mind, and purusa, the part of us that sees? The Yoga Sutra says that the purusa can only see by means of the mind. If the mind is colored, then the perception will also be colored, which will in turn affect the purusa.” (p.89) I consider the purusa to be our soul or spirit. The part of us created to serve, to laugh, to love, however the mind can create boundaries to us living from a place of clarity, from our spirit. Clearly my mind, my incessant chatter, negatively affected my perception. Likewise, through yoga and meditation, we have the ability to reverse this negative self-talk. In yoga, this clarity is referred to as sattva and is totally positive in the sense of leading to a reduction of suffering, or the yoga term, “duhkha.” “Duhka” is a feeling of being restricted.
Do you feel restricted during this time of quarantine or do you see enormous possibility? Do you see being closed off from the world or the opportunity to better connect to your family? Do you see a loss of income or wealth or a monumental shift in what is wealth? Duhka works at the level of the mind in which we experience a limitation of our possibilities to act and understand. Whether you have disturbed sleep, difficulty concentrating, emotional outbursts; yoga philosophy would consider these expressions a result of duhka. One of the many objectives of yoga is to reduce those things that darken the heart and sometimes those things are simply our thoughts. More importantly , our attachment to the thoughts is what causes us suffering. When we feel a sense of lightness and openness within, then we experience the opposite of duhka, a state called sukha. Through our yoga practice we are attempting to become aware of the qualities of the mind at play, reduce the limitations that result from them, and avoid their recurrence. Awareness of our negative tendencies is key to their reduction and the first step to freeing ourselves from it.
The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice
There are so many parts of this book that I identify with; particularly now, in light of the coronavirus, chapter 14 describes “Nine Obstacles on the Yoga Way.” I can relate to the obstacles of illness, lethargy, doubt, haste or impatience, fatigue, distraction, ignorance, inability to take a new step, and loss of confidence. These are the same obstacles faced by most any individual attempting to embark on new health goals, fitness programs, job opportunities, or relationships.
Just yesterday I spent hours trying to develop a couple of mindful movement/Pilates videos to share as part of Home Training. Do you know my biggest obstacle? Myself! I could not stand to see myself on camera and I criticized every angle from how I spoke, to how I looked, to how I moved! Talk about creating obstacles to personal growth. However, even as my mind was filled with negative thoughts, my higher self was practicing breath work, practicing cultivating a positive energy level, experiencing change through asana and physical movement. Through elements of breath work I was able to quiet the mind and simply focus on practicing the art of Pilates and movement. I felt much better at the end of the 4 series that I recorded. Whether they are watched by others or not, my own internal shift cultivated by my practice created a much better home for my family to quarantine!
“What is the relationship between citta, the mind, and purusa, the part of us that sees? The Yoga Sutra says that the purusa can only see by means of the mind. If the mind is colored, then the perception will also be colored, which will in turn affect the purusa.” (p.89) I consider the purusa to be our soul or spirit. The part of us created to serve, to laugh, to love, however the mind can create boundaries to us living from a place of clarity, from our spirit. Clearly my mind, my incessant chatter, negatively affected my perception. Likewise, through yoga and meditation, we have the ability to reverse this negative self-talk. In yoga, this clarity is referred to as sattva and is totally positive in the sense of leading to a reduction of suffering, or the yoga term, “duhkha.” “Duhka” is a feeling of being restricted.
Do you feel restricted during this time of quarantine or do you see enormous possibility? Do you see being closed off from the world or the opportunity to better connect to your family? Do you see a loss of income or wealth or a monumental shift in what is wealth? Duhka works at the level of the mind in which we experience a limitation of our possibilities to act and understand. Whether you have disturbed sleep, difficulty concentrating, emotional outbursts; yoga philosophy would consider these expressions a result of duhka. One of the many objectives of yoga is to reduce those things that darken the heart and sometimes those things are simply our thoughts. More importantly , our attachment to the thoughts is what causes us suffering. When we feel a sense of lightness and openness within, then we experience the opposite of duhka, a state called sukha. Through our yoga practice we are attempting to become aware of the qualities of the mind at play, reduce the limitations that result from them, and avoid their recurrence. Awareness of our negative tendencies is key to their reduction and the first step to freeing ourselves from it.
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