Tapas (discipline, austerities, heat and effort) and how this concept relates to the cultivation of our Yoga practices and the impact of our practices on daily life.

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring Tapas (discipline, austerities, heat and effort) and how this concept relates to the cultivation of our Yoga practices and the impact of our practices on daily life.

I think the world today is upside-down and is suffering so much because there is so very little love in the homes and in family life. We have no time for our children, we have no time for each other; there is no time to enjoy each other. 

                                                – Mother Teresa of Calcutta

An obsession with hurry has been so worked into our social system that we scarcely notice we do not have time to love. Everywhere the slogan is "Hurry, hurry, hurry." Yet to be aware of the needs of others, to spend time with others, to speak and act with thoughtfulness, patience, and consideration, we must give time - a lot more time than most of us are willing to give at present.

We all need warm, deep, personal relationships to thrive, but modern life seems to place such a small value on them - compared with the high value placed on money and prestige and pleasure. It is so easy to be distracted and to fritter our attention away in countless ways, until we find we have little left for family and friends. By simplifying our lives, dropping less important activities, we allow more time for what matters most. But it is also essential to slow down our pace of living, so that we can free ourselves from the grip of time-driven thinking and behavior.

Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran

The homework is to experiment with yourself to see if bringing more consistency and dedication (Tapas) to your Yoga practices increases the time you have in the day to develop warm, deep, and personal relationships.  See for yourself if your practices can support simplifying our lives, dropping less important activities, and slowing down our pace of living.

Blessings,

paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga

417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994

www.rushingwateryoga.com

info@rushingwateryoga.com

Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003

Abhyasa : effort, willpower, practice and Vairagya : letting go, acceptance, detachment and how these concepts relate to the cultivation of Love.

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring Abhyasa : effort, willpower, practice and Vairagya : letting go, acceptance, detachment and how these concepts relate to the cultivation of Love.

Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,

Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.          

                                                             – John Donne

Loyalty is a precious quality that we have almost lost sight of today. Instead of loyalty, almost everyone talks about freedom, especially in relationships. The idea is that if two people come together in freedom, each can walk out of the arrangement. This is supposed to be a complete safeguard against unhappiness. But even where both are free to walk out - where there are no obligations, no bonds, not even any ties - they go on doing this over and over and do not acquire the capacity to love. Without loyalty, it simply is not possible to love deeply.

Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran

The homework is to consider how your Yoga practices can help foster the cultivation of the capacity to love.  The practices of Yoga require a full commitment even when the practice does not go well.  This commitment requires us to keep coming back to the mat, back to the mat.  This coming back is without expectations and is with sincere effort and will power. 

This concept is found in Yoga Sutra 1:12: “Abhyasa Vairagyabhyam Tannirodhah - Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness.” - Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by B.K.S. Iyengar.  The concepts of Abhyasa : effort, willpower, practice and Vairagya : letting go, acceptance, detachment are the keys to the development of a Yoga practice.

How can these concepts be applied to the cultivation of the capacity to love and to other areas of life?

Blessings,

paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga

417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994

www.rushingwateryoga.com

info@rushingwateryoga.com

Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003

Tapas

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we will be exploring Tapas, the third Niyama.

You never enjoy the world aright, till the Sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens, and crowned with the stars; and perceive yourself to be the sole heir of the whole world, and more than so, because men are in it who are every one sole heirs as well as you.  

                                                             – Thomas Traherne

In our relationship with the environment, the real power does not lie in the hands of technologists or politicians or directors of multinational corporations. It is individuals like you and me who make the final decisions about what is bought and sold in the stores, how much carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere, and what is dumped into the sea. Each of us can begin to heal the environment right away by changing our daily habits.

And beyond that, there is another area which deserves our immediate attention: the world within. For each of us has an entire world within, an internal environment as real as the one we see around us. This internal environment has a powerful effect on the external environment: the way we think affects the way we treat the earth. When we purify this inner environment, we are not only making ourselves more secure and fulfilled, but we are also making an important contribution to the health of Mother Earth.

Words to Live By: Inspiration for Every Day – Eknath Easwaran

The homework is to consider the third Niyama, Tapas.  Tapas is translated as discipline, austerities, and heat.  Tapas can also mean effort.  Through this effort impurities are burned up and we purify our inner and outer environments.  Evaluate your effort as it relates to your Yoga practices and see if there is room for change.

Blessings,

paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga

417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994

www.rushingwateryoga.com

info@rushingwateryoga.com

Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003