I’m not sure when I made meditation and yoga daily practices. It’s been over 20 years. I started earlier with occasional practice using a set of VHS tapes. For those who missed out, VHS was a clunky format with less than optimal control.
For a “date night,” we attended a three evening class of yoga and meditation through a spiritual group in Seattle. We liked the practice so we decided to take the longer 12 week course of Raja and Hatha yoga. It was through this that we became as certified meditation teachers a few years later.
Raja yoga is the practices of meditation – a system of meditation techniques that help to harmonize consciousness and to quiet the mind. Hatha yoga is the physical branch that we know as yoga, the system of bodily postures. The twin practices that can be practiced separately however greater benefit comes from their pairing.
Yoga works primarily with the energy in the body, through pranayama or energy-control. Prana means also breath. Yoga teaches how, through breath-control, to still the mind and attain higher states of awareness.
During the twelve weeks, we learned of one of original texts of yoga, the Yoga Sutras. The Sutras are attributed to Patanjali and written in the second century BCE. He documented what was previously shared orally from teacher to student. There are still teachers who teach the Sutras through chanting. The idea is that by chanting, the student will be able to recall the deeper meanings of the Sutras.
Depending on the translation, there are about 190 Sutras in four books or chapters. Sutra is Sanskrit for thread. The thread contains just enough to carry the message. It was the role of the teacher to expand on the thread or Sutra. What we know as the Eight-Limbed Path can be found in book two and three. To our Western minds, it may seem strange that foundational teachings are found in the middle of the four books. We must remember that the East is more circular and the beginning may not be where you need be start.
The Eight-Limbed Path is system of practices that, if followed, will lead to Samadhi. Samadhi can be thought of as bliss, oneness, Self-Realization, or Nirvana.
In this respect, yoga is both the path and the goal. It is a path as it has specific steps or instructions and it is the goal as the end result is union. We engage in yoga practices to achieve yoga or union.
Throughout a series of posts, we will explore the Eight-Limbs in depth, but briefly they are:
- The Yamas: Yama is Sanskrit for control. The Yamas are external practices of self-control. Many think of them as the “don’ts.” The five Yamas are: Non-Violence, Non-Lying, Non-Stealing, Non-Sensuality, and Non-Greed or Non-Attachment.
- The Niyamas: The Niyamas are observances, the customs that one should follow. They are the “do’s.” These are: Cleanliness, Contentment, Austerity, Self-Study or Introspection and Devotion.
- Asana: Asana is posture and position of the physical body.
- Pranayama: Prana is life-force, breath or energy and Yama is control. This limb is the techniques to control one’s breath and energy.
- Pratyahara: The fifth limb is the interiorization of one’s mind. One draws inward from the outer world.
- Dharana: After interiorization, one fixes their inner awareness.
- Samadhi: The eighth and final limb is the oneness with Source, the Divine or the achievement of nirvana or bliss. This is the realization of the Higher Self.
