Yoga Sutras: The Yamas

 

In my post back in September, I began discussing the 8-limbed path of yoga as laid out by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. The 8 limbs serve as a road map by which we can come to achieve the goal of yoga, which is to calm our restless minds (citta vritti nirodhah) in order to reduce suffering and thereby learn to abide in the limitless freedom that is our own True Nature.

The first limb of yoga is yama which means “restraint.” If the goal of yoga is to abide in limitless freedom, it might seem strange then that the first thing we do is restrain ourselves. The word “restraint” and the word “freedom,” in fact, sound like they are in opposition to each other. Quite the contrary though, living our lives in accordance with these yamas actually helps us to still the turnings of our minds that normally cause anxiety and doubt, such that we can come to know a deeper type of freedom.

I would like to highlight something profound that Eddie Stern said at the Ashtanga Yoga Confluence a few years back that really stuck with me. He said true freedom is not this lower version of freedom that most of us think of when we hear the word. Freedom is NOT doing whatever I want, whenever I want to. That is actually more like hedonism, and you are selling yourself short if that is all you believe is available to you. You are more than that. He went on to say that real freedom is the nature of your own True Being which is: complete Truth, unbound by anything (time, space, etc.), and the natural joy that comes from resting in that awareness.

There are 5 yamas or ethical disciplines that we following the path of yoga should adhere to as guidelines for how to conduct ourselves in relationship to the people and world around us if we hope to find this freedom of spirit. These include ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacarya (moderation), and aparigraha (non-hoarding). As Chip Hartranft so expertly points out in his translation of the Sutras, following these yamas “is not so much altruistic as it is practical.” While living in accordance with these values definitely benefits society, it just as much benefits YOU by virtue of the fact that this way of living reduces mental suffering and brings about peace of mind.

 

 

Yoga Playlist

Yoga Playlist

Yoga Sutras: 8-Limbed Path (A guide to reducing the crazy in your mind)

While sweating your way through an intense yoga asana class is a great way to cleanse and tone the body and reduce the stress of day-to-day life, the practice of yoga goes much deeper than just the physical. The philosophy behind yoga practice comes from an ancient text called the Yoga Sutras, which dates back to approximately 200BCE. Although the text is over 2000 years old, the major themes of the book are still quite relevant today to anyone trying to live a conscious spiritual life. To the true yogi, ‘yoga practice’ is not just what we do in class when we roll out our mats to stretch. The real yoga practice is the way that we think, speak, move, and act through every moment of each day. In the same way that we learn to move and place our bodies deliberately through asana practice, we can learn to act in the world in a way that is deliberate and in alignment with our own highest truth. Every conversation or disagreement, every interaction, every task, every waking moment in fact becomes another opportunity to hone our skill of mindful, compassionate action.

In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali identifies what he calls ‘citta vritti’ or ‘the turnings of the mind’ as the main cause of human suffering. From his perspective, what causes unhappiness isn’t so much the stuff that is going on in our lives as it is the way that we process it, worry about it, and replay it over and over again in our minds. It is these neurotic turnings of the mind that disconnect us from the truth of who we are and the beauty of our existence. The goal of yoga practice then is to still the mind so as to reduce suffering such that we can abide in the limitless freedom that is our true nature. Patanjali lays out an 8-limbed path by which one may arrive at this state of mental stillness. In the coming months, I will be expanding on this philosophy and offering a brief overview of each of the limbs of yoga to feed your growing understanding. I hope you find it helpful and meaningful.

Watch your thoughts, they become words; Watch your words, they become actions; Watch your actions, they become habits; Watch your habits, they become character; Watch your character, it becomes your destiny. (Anonymous)