Every third Friday of the month we have our traditional Sanskrit Counted led Full Primary (instead of the Morning Mysore class), followed by a 45-60 min yoga philosophy talk.  The counted class is an excellent opportunity to review the vinyasa count, practicing at a rhythm without any added distractions while also experiencing yourself being part of the breathing moving mala created in our school.  The yoga philosophy talk thereafter stimulates much though about the underlying philosophy behind our practice, inspiring your practice.

Hereby sharing some of what we talked about during last Friday's talk.
Please keep in mind that I am merely a student of yoga philosophy myself and by no means an expert.

This sutra states that we can prevent future suffering, that future suffering is end-able. Huzzzah!  How is that possible?

One take is to live and behave (in our thoughts, words and actions) with integrity. Here an exploration of the first two limbs of ashtanga, the yamas and niyamas - how we relate to ourselves and others - could be inserted (may be another time!). Integrity in our thoughts, actions and word - Huh! That needs a lot of awareness and tending to our intentions for our words, actions... There is also an aspect then of us understanding that we are responsible and accountable for our actions and behavior, that we understand our actions (inward and outward) elicit a reaction.  With awareness to what causes a 'duhkha spinning wheel' we can learn to understand the underlying seed of that spin. That enables us to change the spin, to  try to lay down seeds that allow the wheel to spin towards more beneficial outcomes for ourselves and the world around us.

Turns out our yoga practice is an excellent playground for understanding ourselves and our spins; in our practice we encounter our short circuiting, our automated responses, judgements, self-talk, ways of attaching to *something, or ways of not showing up for what we want.  Huh! Difficult! Why did I ever sign up for this! Indeed, it's not a fun practice per se, and all the time. Yet, knowing yourself, getting to come to know your patterns is very rewarding; it allows for new perspectives, new choices, it allows you to see better what is there and what is a projection or a story of how things have been or "should" be.

Get out of your box by first understanding the nature of the box you put yourself into.
(Ahem, which Box?!?! Ahem!) :)

Our yoga practice allows us a visceral / embodied understanding of how all is interconnected (e.g. how 'this' thought leads to 'that' outcome, etc...). Our bodies thus become our very own tools to understand the world within and around us, through direct experience. Those experiences, those moments of understanding, are spontaneously arising, and probably not occurring during each practice (so sorry for the news!). Yet, a regular, towards daily, practice brings about a soil for such momentary experiences to sprout and flower.  Those moments in practice are immensely precious, they allow you to see *something* about yourself you previously could not grasp, even if you can't put it into words (may be not so bad - language itself can be limiting and restricting), your body sees and understands in its own ways and at its own pace, from here there is option to break the chain of pattern behavior you got accustomed to.  

Through regular observation in practice we get to know the language of our thoughts, emotions and sensations, and also come to understand we have been misidentifying with our thoughts, emotion and sensations (all parts of the material world, or nature, referred to as prakrti) and learn to be with our thoughts, emotions and sensations, observe them but not identify and attach to them.  

Conceptually this yoga sutra could also entail that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. Implying that we always have a choice for how to respond to pain that presents, again understanding that all is interconnected, and understanding that our current present (and the actions of our current present) shapes our future past....

For a few impressions from our led class, have a peek here. 

"Fun" fact:  I lost and rewrote this post about 2-3 times as it always disappeared before publishing (very annoying).  Next time I will write it on a word file first and then copy it in here, instead of rewriting all from scratch.  Future suffering is to be avoided.... 

 A deep sense of love, peace, interconnectedness, "understanding" (for whatever that is) and home (in and out) pervaded in this morning's practice.  Revealing. Lots. Practice does not always seem revealing, yet by little bits, it always is - though those moments when "things" truly appear to merge and come together in a broader scheme of understanding, those moments (!) always leave me awestruck. And tremendously grateful. Today such moments, glimpses, presented themselves.

There was  s o m e t h i n g  such as a deeper awareness and understanding of the different landscapes inside and of me* emerging as direct experience from  moving my body into the various shapes of my practice; firm roots anchored inwards  propagating outward expansion and expression supported by breath and gaze. 
A raw experience of myself* in the shapes my body made (not random shapes, yet shapes I try to experience most days of the week), physically, sense of direction, yet also an understanding tickled into spirit, being part of a greater entity; ... anchors, air / space, opposition, center, left / right, below / above, exhale / inhale - all somehow merged into one while resting in the ever-changing presence of the here and the now, and moving from within, expanding outward from within. As the nature of all is change, is there a logic to our holding on to [fill in the blank ] (physical / mental / emotional..sensations; our minds want to ride control, but nature is flawless in itself. Letting go but not being ambivalent, still moving in this change while also changing, in a centered manner. Huh!

One step back now.
Somehow this inner presence also opened up a vast receptivity to my environment, and the people practicing in this, our, space; a receptivity, a resonance with them and their creations (the beautiful female practitioner next to me literally creating life), seemingly observing much, yet not entangled with observation.

A snapshot of a deeper glimpse, a profound invitation,  of what encompasses vinyasa (albeit my very own experience of vinyasa today): moving around one's center, lifting, chest forward, exhale, legs back, ...inhale jump forward into something new, a new creation yet not an ambivalent one, creating with directed and embodied focus (made possible by a frequent practice of the same sequence). And vinyasa (!), analogous to the ever passing of all, not attaching but flowing in the present while externally pulled in all directions (daily activities, obligations, family, dear ones, own expectations, thoughts on past and future...) but right here in this, also very dynamic, practice, moving in and out (each asana) staying connected / anchored to one's core, breathing myself into a shape (an extremity, expanding from my core) while firmly anchored from within and guided by the breath - experiencing a sense of staying present, aware, centered while all changes, continuously and always. Being an observer to the ever continuing spectacle of something coming to light, being created, and then naturally ceasing again, pose by pose, breath by breath...little births and deaths, giving way to something new, becoming old and new, again and again. And again. Yet altogether resting / steadying the straying mind in the ever changing shapes, through breath, gaze and inner awareness... when a glimpse to non-attachment is possible, but before you know it, it may already be gone again.  A playing field where the frequent, dedicated, yet also thoughtful practice comes into place.
​Fascinating.

I practiced full primary and intermediate up to Tittibhasana, and extra backbends, a full and long practice for me; was not tired during my practice, it felt like a natural flow from one to the next, with no extra energy spent on wavering, yet held and supported by directed attention (and not pulled down) mentally, emotionally, energetically and physically - all in it's place -  a sense of being deeply rooted to the earth and from within, giving forth much space / possibility to expand or draw in with each in- and exhale, respectively.

Yoga-Sutra 1.14
​sa tu dīrghakāla nairantarya satkāra-ādara-āsevito dr̥ḍhabhūmiḥ ॥14॥
Success in yoga (cessation of the fluctuations of the mind) can be definitely achieved by engaging in the same practice, a practice that has a solid foundation, continuously (without a break) over an extended period of time, in a dedicated and thoughtful manner.