Reducing Self-Will

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the topic reducing self-will.

Love makes everything that is heavy light.
-Thomas a Kempis

It is love that teaches us our real stature and reveals the heroism we never thought we possessed. The renunciation that might be well-nigh impossible in a vacuum can be blessedly simple when someone we love stands to gain. Turning down a second glass of wine might take some doing in ordinary circumstances, for example; but when you're in the company of an impressionable teenager, you'll gladly set it aside.

Suppose you're tempted to add to your collection of antique fire screens: hard to resist, maybe, if your aim is solely to reduce your own acquisitiveness. But if the money you save can be spent on a tent for family camping trips, it can be a breeze. You feel so good inside! A knack for quiet self-sacrifice is the very life and soul of friendship. Reducing self-will needn't be a joyless deprivation - it can be so many little acts of love, performed over and over throughout the day.

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

The homework is to explore what it means to “reduce self-will”. Consider that reducing self-will is a practice; like asana, meditation, or prayer. In The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Sadhana (practice) is defined as Tapas (burning desire), Svadhyaya (self-study) and Isvara Pranidhana (devotion to God) or together as Kriya Yoga. Sadhana is practice to reach a goal in spite of obstacles. Develop a practice to help you reduce your self-will.

Blessings,

paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
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