Before I did my yoga teacher training I had
my reservations about ‘Yoga Philosophy’…. I have never been a philosophy
person, or so I thought. It was only during the course that I started to realize
that, as with the question “What is Yoga?’, the philosophy of yoga is a very personal
and individual topic with an unlimited array of possible explanations. So when
we were asked to write our own yoga philosophy, with no limits or restrictions….
This is what I came up with….
Yoga is a journey of the self, through the
self to the self- The Bhagavad Gita
For me this quote says it all. A personal
journey with no time restrictions, physical demands or defined goals….. It
brings the focus inwards, develops the awareness and teaches you to listen to
your body and loose the ego once you step onto your mat.
My yoga philosophy:
YOU
space
It is a journey and it will be different
for everyone but for me the important thing to remember is that there is no
finish line or ultimate goal. For me yoga began as a need to satisfy an inner
curiosity. I started with self practice and flash cards falling around my
bedroom trying to twist my body into different shapes and angles and getting
frustrated when it all didn’t quite come together- this was the battle with my
ego. I soon learned that when I stepped onto the mat all I needed to think of
was my mat space. Your mat- is your space, whether you are in a class of 100
people or in a room on your own - it’s all about you!
Own
Voice
So many people spend so much time running
away from that little voice in their heads, we are too busy with life and
looking after other people that we neglect or ignore what our own voice is
saying. Yoga is about finding that inner voice, having the confidence to be
true to it and the commitment to yourself to practice it. There is no gold
medal for being the best in your first class; yoga is more of a lifetime
achievement award.
Getting to know you
By creating YOU space and listening to your
inner voice you will start to become aware of your body. Learning about your
body by working through each area in different poses and pranayama, discovering
your strengths and challenges. By bringing the focus into your space and
leaving the ego off the mat you will let your body guide you to your
limitations and also show you how and when to push them.
Accepting
you today
Yoga is a journey and every day is
different. Every time you get onto the mat you need to create YOU space, listen
to your voice, become aware of how your body feels at that moment, for that
practice and then accept you, as you are in that moment.
As a teacher this is the philosophy I want
to teach my students by. I understand that for a lot of people who come to Yoga
classes it is about the physical movement and challenges and they don’t realize
the importance of these four points in order to get the most out of their
practice.
Throughout my classes I would like my
students to take the time on their mat as ‘Me time’, learn to listen to that
inner voice, develop that awareness in their bodies and accept themselves for
how they are at that particular moment on that particular day.
https://www.facebook.com/EllaBelleYoga
https://www.facebook.com/EllaBelleYoga
A mention of 'yoga philosophy' brings into focus a lot more than described here. It is natural for some to get introduced to yoga through its physical form, asanas. But, more into asanas, one would realize that there is much more to yoga beyond asanas. It is one thing to say that 'whatever transformation asanas bring about is enough for me' but to say that 'there is no finish line or ultimate goal' to yoga is to deny its real ultimate destination of a non-dual state of pure consciousness. One may decide to get down at the first station and be happy, but that need not be based on an assumption that the train doesn't serve other locations or doesn't have any final.
ReplyDeleteYoga comes from a very secular culture that has courage to embrace any diversity. However, what is the unchangeable foundation and what remains architectural freedom to the individuals is very clear. The four concepts of yoga as goal, constraints, process and practice are:
(1) Ultimate goal is 'enlightenment' via merging with pure consciousness; (2) Enlightened we are at birth, what keeps us away is the conditioning that is to be undone. Conditioning is inherent in human perception because of guna; all causes reside as subtle forces behind all the effects that are gross (3) So, the process is purification and progressive higher awareness from gross to subtle;(4) One does this through a practice on any one or all the levels - physical (the grossest) to mind (the subtlest)- neatly organized as karma-yoga, bhakti-yoga, jnana-yoga and raja-yoga.
Asanas belong to the physical, though with a higher potential as well. Concentration on asanas alone takes one in the fold of hatha-yoga, which is pure practice with less philosophy. Yoga owes its philosophical roots to Vedantic times, which were thousands of year back.
In saying, "Yoga is a journey of the self, through the self to the self"- The Bhagavad Gita, a lot is lost in translation. The last words should be, 'to the Self' (with a big S) where Self means the divine/ pure consciousness that is embedded in each one of us, of which we remain unaware.
One is absolutely free to define one's yoga goals, but it should be with knowledge that they are intermediate goals serving as steps towards the ultimate one. Thanks.