#practice indie

Yoga Sutras 1.5-1.11: a recap and moving on…

Ok, this week’s Sutra… not gonna lie… is sort of boring. At least on the surface. It talks about the 4th of the 5 mental modifications that hold us back from the “True Self” or our fourth state (Turiya). This 4th mental activity is sleep. Not dreaming, not deep conscious sleep (a whooooole ‘notha thing: i.e. yoga nidra), simply the act of sleeping is basically a disconnect form the world and…

Yoga Sutra 1.9: In the words of Eliza Doolittle, “SHOW ME”

Knowledge that is based on language alone, independent of any external object, is conceptualization.

“Words, words, words, I’m so sick of words!” Liza Doolittle exclaims these infamous words in  Lerner and Loewe’s adaptation of Pygmalion. I LOOOOVE words, in fact one of my co-workers and I used to muddle over what words were super great and descriptive, so this Sutra, at first, really challenged…

Yoga Sutra 1.8: misperception

Last week we discussed how to come to ‘right knowledge’ or how to truly know something. This week’s Sutra draws off of the last in that misperception occurs when knowledge is not based on true form.

Let’s take the hunger example again. If I have never had indigestion, it is difficult to knowwhat it is. My heart hurts, my stomach aches, I feel uncomfortable.. Am I having a heart attack? I’ve heard…

Yoga Sutra 1.7: practice experience

Patanjali states in Yoga Sutra 1.7 that the sources of right knowledge are direct perception, inference and authoritative testimony.

I’ll break this down simply…

Example: Being hungry

1. Direct Perception: My stomach hurts and is making loud noises. I am directly experiencing this.

2. Inference: I just started crying over the stupidest thing and practically anything sounds good to eat, along with…

two roads diverged in a wood… #pain vs. #painless (Yoga Sutra 1.5)

Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run There’s still time to change the road you’re on. And it makes me wonder.

- Led Zeppelin

Patanjali outlines in Yoga Sutra 1.5 that there are five kinds of mental modifications that either lead to pain or are painless. We either obscure our happiness or we build upon it. We will talk about the 5 categories next week, but essentially…

Practice: Wiping off your lenses

If you have ever worn sunglasses or eye glasses with foggy lenses, you know how distorted your vision can get. Likewise, if you have ever believed something such as Santa Claus, only to find out that the world works a different way, you know how it is to have an unveiling of the truth. It can be painful, it’s a little freeing, and it’s incredibly startling. Ultimately, clarity feels good.

This…

Sutra 1.2: Yoga calms the chatter of the mind

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive

Walter Scott

Think of a spider web. In its infancy it starts out simple. A few spindles of thread woven tightly to hold the spider in its place and to catch a decent meal. As the spider becomes more advanced… and hungrier, the web grows, making more room for the spider to expand and catch more prey. The web is intricate, it is…

Yoga Sutra 1.1: let’s begin

The yoga sutras are essentially a guidebook… a casual, couple thousand year old guidebook, written by a man named Sri Patanjali. Patajanli was rumored to have lived between 5000 BCE and 300 CE and is considered the “Father of Yoga”. Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras as a step by step way to mitigate and eliminate suffering (the ultimate goal of yoga). The Sutras are separated into 4 padas (or…