Hello
Folks,
Over the past few months many of us have had a chance to spend more time practicing yoga or other spiritual practices than we've had during our regular, busy lives..
The Sanskrit words for spiritual practice include abhyasa (practice) and sadhana, which translates as "a means," as in "a means to accomplishing a goal." There are many different goals that we can have in regards to our yoga practice. Sometimes, as spiritual practitioners, we might to think, "I'm just going with the flow, I don't
have any desires or goals other than to be in the present." That's an excellent intention to have, but it's also really not a bad thing to have goals. They provide us with direction, and when we reach them, we can feel encouraged that our efforts are paying off. Progress in yoga means that we go from where we are now to a place or point of understanding or being that we didn't think we could get to before. Arriving at a deeper understanding of ourselves and how we relate to the world is
indeed yoga.
You can think of sadhanas as practices that affect certain changes in character. When we talk about goals, or about results, that's what we are really talking about. What kind of change in our characters, our ways of living, relating, or being, are we experiencing?
Patanjali outlines many different sadhanas in the Yoga Sutras, the most popular being the eight limbs, otherwise known as ashtanga yoga. Here is a small sample of those limbs looking at them as individual sadhanas:
- The sadhana of ahimsa, or non-harm, has the result of creating peace wherever you go.
- The sadhana of satya, or honesty, has the result of your words coming true.
- The sadhana of santosha, or contentment, results in unsurpassed joy and spaciousness.
- The sadhana of Ishvara Pranidhana, surrender to the Divine, one attains samadhi, or a completely stilled mind.
- From the sadhana of asanas, or postures, one attains immunity from the pairs of opposites, or the ups and downs of life.
- From the sadhana of pranayama, the veil that covers inner knowledge is thinned, and prepares one for meditation.
Maybe there are certain changes that you would like to see in yourself. When you can identify what those are, then you can pick the sadhana that you feel you need to work on that will bring you in that direction.
Perhaps you want to be a more forgiving person, and learn to transcend blame and judgement; then you can practice the forgiveness practices. Perhaps you feel that your mind is pretty good, but you want to improve your health, vitality, and keep your nervous system balanced; then you can practice more of asanas and pranayama.
Ideally, you do a little bit of a few sadhanas each day. Something for your mind, something for the emotions, something for the body, and something for the people around you; some asanas, some pranayama, some chanting, some meditation, and some service. In doesn't need to be a huge amount: when it comes to practice, a little goes a long way.
Every once in a while, it's good to intensify your practice for a short period. Last month my friend Neeraj and I finished a sadhana of chanting the Ganesh Upanishad 1,008 times. It took 10 months. Now I'm back to once per day. The mild intensity of an increased practice helps to cement your commitment to yourself and to growth. Sometimes undertaking a sadhana with a friend can give
you support in accomplishing your vow.
From July 13th-18th, my old friend Robert Moses and I decided to collaborate on a short, six-day sadhana intensive that we'd like to invite you to take part in. Three of the days will be guided practices, and two of the days you will do them on your own. We will be sending you a manual of the practices that will be
done during the week, with short periods of practices at morning, mid- afternoon, and evening. For those that do not do Ashtanga Yoga, there will be alternate yoga practices provided.
Information and schedule can be found here. As with all of our current offerings, the intensive is by donation only, as per your ability and desire. If you cannot do the entire intensive, but would like to do some of it,
that is fine.
Please do join in if you can. It should prove to be a very positive experience, with an introduction to practices that, perhaps, may be new or interesting for you.
That's all! We hope you can make it.
Yours,
Eddie
Our weekly yoga schedule has been updated and can be found here.