The reason I practice yoga is encapsulated in this saying from the Bhagavad Gita :
'Yoga, is this journey of the self, through the self, to the Self'.
I can break this down into the following three phases: The Journey,
1. of the self,
2. through the self,
3. to the S elf. (with a capital S)
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1. of the self……
Yoga is a journey of self-discovery.
In hindsight, it seems that I began practicing yoga to become whole. By whole, I mean the unification of the self; of mind, body & soul - this is the beginning of the journey.
My understanding and practices of yoga is based on the integration of the three aspects or centres of the human being; mind, body and soul. For me, this journey about ‘’yoga”, means to join or unite and begins with uniting these three aspects of our being - Individual Consciousness.
All of us have experienced the fragmented nature of our psyche and independent nature of mind-body function. The person that wishes not to eat that piece of cake is not the hand that reaches for it. The person that sets the alarm to wake up and 6 am to practice is not the one that presses the snooze button repeatedly and rolls over falling back to sleep at 6 am the next day unable to wake up ..etc.,
As Carl Jung said, we are “fragmented beings”, incohesive, separate instruments. What the mind wants the body doesn’t and vis-à-vis. More often than not we find that even when we can get our mind and body to agree the soul interjects.
So here is where I began with the search to unite the different aspects of me. The only place I found answers to my questions was through my practice of yoga and it wasn’t by reading the books or the texts, for this alone is insufficient to bring about changes or to know the Self. Yoga is mostly an oral tradition in which, one who is searching for oneself, must find a teacher already established in the Self. This is the tradition of this sacred knowledge which has been passed down from generation to generation since time began. Yoga has to be experienced and every single person experiences it uniquely. The self begins to unfold like the petals of a flower, just as the bud of the lotus blossoms out of the mud.
2. through the self……
In the middle of this blossoming we must go ‘’through the self’, this is the muddy bit out of which the lotus emerges. If you ask me, this is where the real work begins. This is the stage of self-exploration. This is where the ‘’effort’’ is needed to strip away all that is not the self the conditioning. Your practice (sadhana) becomes the catalyst for personal transformation. Your whole life becomes your Guru, not just what you do on your mat. This is the shedding of the other or ego self and the becoming of YOU. Your path to blossoming is as unique as YOU. A teacher may show you where to look but not what to see, this is your view, your life and yours alone.
The three main avenues to approach the practice are: 1. Karma Yoga (the path of Action), 2. Jnana Yoga (the path of Knowledge, and 3. Raja Yoga (the path of Bhakti or Devotion). And of course our modern day Hatha Yoga…
Start with the one that appeals to you most. We each have a predisposition to one of these, but they are not mutually exclusive and are all needed at some point in our lives to find what we are seeking.
A lot of us begin with the practices of Asana and Hatha Yoga, this is great for purification and alignment of the gross instruments, starting with the physical body and as we grow in our practice, we find the other elements of this eight-limbed (Ashtanga) yoga path exactly when we are ready (when the student is ready the teacher emerges) including practices of pranayama and meditation. This occurs as the more subtle aspects of our being begin to awaken (described as the Koshas or energetic layers of the being) we don’t grow in one direction, we grow somewhat like an embryo in all directions. Once on this path, we become Seekers wanting answers to the bigger questions of life, like ‘who am I’ and ‘why am I here’ - Cosmic Consciousness
3. ... to the Self.
This is the final stage of the journey and there is no turning back once a chain of actions are set in motion nature takes over. Who you are will find a way. The experience of your yoga practice begins to grow and you transform both from the inside out and the outside in, you begin to seek clarity and purpose until you realise that what you are seeking is seeking YOU !
Realising this, the eternal, immortal Self, the Atman, we realise the Divine being in us, the God, Brahman in all - I am that (Tat Tvam Asi), You are that, We are all that – One and All - Yoga - God Consciousness
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Why I practice yoga ~ written by Avril Bastiansz for International Yoga Day 2021.
Happy International Yoga Day and peace to all on Earth.
#2021
@avrilbastianszBecomeYOU