Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Yoga - more to it than Wednesday night class? Say wha?!

Yoga to many of us is going to class once and a while. It always feels so good and then we walk out of the door... hope to get back soon....hey, maybe I'll bring my buddy next time, hmmm maybe not this was a nice "me" experience...

What if we took this a little further?

Yoga is more than just that class that I go to on Wednesdays? I'll admit I was intrigued, but was a little intimidated by the whole India thing.... Until I started to open myself up to a little research. I went to a wonderful, eye opening workshop by Rolf Gates (http://rolfgates.com/pages/home.html) during my 200 hour training at Semperviva Yoga (http://www.semperviva.com/). Rolf has written a book about yoga "Meditations on the Mat - Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga" (2002).


A whole new world of yoga as a life style and life long journey has been opened. Rolf has a come from a very dark past and has used yoga as his life raft, or canoe, to sail down the river of life into the light. His book is based on 365 short essays, one for each day of the year to cover all of the 8 Limbs of Yoga in very non-threatening and inspirational ways, but also in everyday language with everyday examples. Rolf makes the 8 limbs accessible to the Western world; it all makes a lot of sense.

I'd like to start with the 4 aims of life. Now these actually come from Hinduism, a religion with its origins half way around the world, but when you look closely these ideas don't seem quite so foreign.

The Four Aims of Life
1. Dharma - observation of spiritual discipline
2. Artha - creation of a balanced life
3. Kama- enjoyment of the fruits of one's labours
4. Moksa - liberation

Look past the sanskrit, I dare you.....  Of all of the things that we do in this world, there are 4 basic root motivations.... They look pretty familiar..... Not so foreign, eh? I would love to live in a world where I am free to pray to whomever I like (if anyone or anything as the circumstance presents itself), where I have a balanced life, enjoy the fruits of my labours, and feel liberated.  Isn't it a wonderful notion that a woman of Western decent can share these ideas with a culture of Eastern decent?!

Union. Yoga. Connection. Community. Om.

Now, being a woman in Canada, I can say that I have the freedom to strive toward these 4 aims. (PS for those who shy away from the word "spiritual" or "religion", maybe just substitute the word "love" - try it out, observation of a love discipline - for self, others...)

It is a work in progress....but so is life!

Here we have the 5 major afflications which get in the way of our aims of life - again, looking pretty familiar. It is so interesting to really reflect on how these afflications can stand in the way of the light of life.

The Five Afflictions
1. Avidya - spiritual ignorance
2. Asmita - pride
3. Raga - desire
4. Dvesa - aversion
5. Abhinivesa - fear of death (this is a big one for me, again - work in progress, and that is ok)


 This is the beauty of what yoga is teaching us, life is a journey, not an end point - so enjoy the view!

 Be in this moment! RIGHT NOW!

Yes, there are these aims, and they fluctuate as to how much of one or the other we have the privilege of experiencing right now.... just as to how much one or more of the afflications maybe present in our lives....Sure, we may have a road map, but often the road forks when we least expect it and we are on a different road than we expected. Regardless, we are here, we are breathing, we are awake and striving to live with spirituality/love, balance, liberation, and enjoyment of our hard work. Its not perfect, but our yoga is a journey, it is a practice. 

The Yoga Sutra gives us a guide of how to use yoga along the life path and it is divided into 8 limbs. I am excited to reflect on these limbs of yoga to bring them more into my own life, but also to demystify them a little....

The 8 Limb Path of Yoga

1. Yamas - 5 Moral Restraints
     Ahimsa - nonviolence
     Satya - truthfulness
     Asteya - nonstealing
     Brahmacarya - moderation
     Aparigraha - nonhoarding

2. Niyamas - 5 observances
     Sauca - purity
     Santosa - contentment
     Tapas - seal, austerity
     Svadhyaya - self-study
     Isvara-pranidhana - devotion to a higher power

3. Asana - Postures (hey Wednesday night class!)

4. Pranayama - Mindful Breathing (this is familiar too...)

5. Pratyahara - Turning inward

6. Dharana - Concentration

7. Dhyana - Meditation

8. Samadhi - Union of the Self with Object of Meditation

 Ya, its a lot... Much to learn and take in, but hey we've got a life time and beyond!

No comments:

Post a Comment