Aourishment, Pratyahara and Dharana

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering nourishment, Pratyahara and Dharana.

The control of the palate is a valuable aid for the control of the mind.

                                                                      

                                                            - Mahatma Gandhi

I first became interested in improving my diet under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, who used to include articles on diet and health in his weekly newspaper along with all the latest political news. I had been brought up on traditional South Indian cuisine. I had enjoyed it all thoroughly, but I had never asked what the purpose of food is. At Gandhi's prompting, I started asking this kind of question and concluded to my great surprise that food is meant to nourish the body.

I started changing. I began to eat foods that wouldn't have appealed to me in earlier days. Now asparagus tastes better than chocolate torte.

The palate is the ideal starting point for getting some mastery over your senses. You have three, four, maybe more opportunities a day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any number of between-meal snacks. No need to talk of fasting or strange diets. Just resolve to move away from foods that don't benefit your health and begin choosing foods that do.

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

The homework is to cultivate the practice of Pratyahara - the refinement or the withdrawal of the senses and combine this practice with Dharana - one pointed concentration to help guide us in directing our attention in meaningful ways in relation to our nourishment choices. See if your nourishment patterns can be refined through challenging your automatic ways of consuming. Consider making meal time more of a sacred event.

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

Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 1:12

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 1:12.

The restriction of these fluctuations is achieved through practice and dispassion.

            -Yoga Sutra 1:12

One of the most frequently studied principles of yoga’s sacred texts is the concept of letting go - also called detachment or surrender.

Why is detachment so difficult to understand?  Perhaps the problem lies in confusing being detached with being uninterested.  Actually, they are opposites.  If you are uninterested, you withdraw, you turn your back on life, which, in a way, denies the difficulty of life.  To be detached is to stand in the middle of the marketplace, with all its confusion and noise, and to remain present to yourself and to all that is.

Detachment beckons you to cultivate the willingness to surrender as you go along, right here and now, but not because you despair or are uninterested.  On the contrary, detachment requires total engagement.  When you allow yourself to see things as they really are, then -  and only then – can you love yourself and others without hidden expectations.  Detachment is the greatest act of love.

The next time you feel yourself caught in the grip of attachment, such as wanting something to turn out a certain way, take time out – right then and there –to notice what is happening in your body.  How does your belly feel?  Has your breathing changed?  Is your jaw tight?  Your forehead drawn?  Notice your bodily sensations.  These are the manifestations of your attachment.

Practice Suggestions.

If you notice that you have a strong desire to be right, try not venturing an opinion the next time someone else expresses one.

If you are in a situation in which you notice your attachment to the outcome of a problem, offer your help and then step back; this will free others to do the same.

When the occasion arises, go along with what your partner or friend wants.  Let her pick the restaurant or movie.  Or, if you always rely on her lead, you pick.

Mantras for Daily Living.

-Detachment is the greatest act of love.

-I am willing to engage life.

-This moment is the perfect moment to let go.

Excerpts from “Living your Yoga, Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life”, by Judith Lasater.

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

Dhyana or Meditation - the 7th of the 8 Limbs of Yoga

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering dhyana or meditation - the 7th of the 8 limbs of Yoga.

This life of separateness may be compared to a dream, a phantasm, a bubble, a shadow, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning.

                                                                      - The Buddha

Time runs out so soon! In our teens and twenties, even our thirties, we have ample margin to play with the toys life has to offer. But we should find out soon how fleeting they are, for the tides of time can ebb away before we know it.

As we grow older and our family and friends begin to pass away, we see how relentlessly time is pursuing all of us. There is no time to quarrel, no time to feel resentful or estranged. There is no time to waste on the pursuit of selfish pleasures that are over almost before they begin.

All-devouring time follows us always, closer than our shadow. As long as I live only for myself, as a little fragment apart from the whole, I cannot escape being a victim of time. It is good to bear in mind how evanescent life is so that we do not postpone the practice of meditation.

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

The homework is to consider why it is said that meditation removes stress and brings stability of mind and emotions. In the context of the Yoga Sutras definition of dhyana (meditation)*, dhyana is only possible when stress is already removed and the mind is still. Consider how your asana practice can bring you closer to this elimination of stress and stillness of mind.

* III.2 tatra pratyaya ekatanata dhyanam

A steady, continuous flow of attention directed towards the same point or region is meditation.

Dhyana is described simply as meditation. However, unlike the act of meditation that we typically understand, Dhyana comes as a result of our efforts. Instead of coming to the mat to meditate, we come to the mat to focus our attention – on asana, on our breath. Dhyana is achieved when we are completely absorbed in that upon which we have focused our attention.

Dhyana is described in Hindu scriptures as pouring oil from one pot to another. The stream of oil does not bubble or break. It is a continuous steam. In dhyana time and space stand still. Unaware of the external world, your attention is focused without distraction. Your mind is steady and open. The awareness of your physical body falls away.

A quote from BKS Iyengar, “True meditation leads us to wisdom (jnana) and understanding (prajna), and this specifically helps in understanding that we are more than our ego.”

References: Light on the Yoga Sutras, BKS Iyenger 

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

Being Present and Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 1:2

Greetings Sadhakas,

This week in class we are considering the definition of being present and Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 1:2.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.

                                                        - The Buddha

When the mind is at rest, we are lifted out of time into the eternal present. The body, of course, is still subject to the passage of time. But in a sense, the flickering of the mind is our internal clock. When the mind does not flicker, what is there to measure change? It's as if time simply comes to a stop for us, as we live completely in the present moment. Past and future, after all, exist only in the mind. When the mind is at rest, there is no past or future. We cannot be resentful, we cannot be guilt-ridden, we cannot build future hopes and desires; no energy flows to past or future at all.

Past and future are both contained in every present moment. Whatever we are today is the result of what we have thought, spoken, and done in all the present moments before now - just as what we shall be tomorrow is the result of what we think, say, and do today. The responsibility for both present and future is in our own hands. If we live right today, then tomorrow has to be right.

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

The homework is to consider PYS 1:2* which states the goal of Yoga, "The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga" (The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sri Swami Satichidananda). BKS Iyengar writes that the "Restraint of the movements of thought brings about stillness (dharana), which leads to silence (dhyana) with awareness." Is BKS Iyengar's quote a definition of being present? In light of the reading consider for yourself what your definition of being present is.

*1:2 yogah cittavrtti nirodhah

References: Light on the Yoga Sutras, BKS Iyenger  and The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sri Swami Satichidananda

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