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Sankhya – The Elements – Fire

स्थूलस्वरूपसूक्ष्मान्वयार्थवत्त्वसंयमाद् भूतजयः ॥४४॥

sthūla‑svarūpa‑sūkṣmānvayārthavattva‑saṁyamād bhūta‑jayaḥ

III.46 By samyama on the five forms of the elements (bhutas), which are gross form, essence, subtleness, interconnectedness, and its purpose, then mastery over those bhutas is attained. Swami Jnaneshhvara Bharati (American initiated by Swami Rama  (and others) in the Himalayan tradition).

ततो णिमादिप्रादुर्भावः कायसंपत्तद्धर्मानभिघातश्च ॥४५॥

tato ’ṇimādi‑prādurbhāvaḥ kāya‑saṁpat tad‑dharmān‑abhighātaś ca

III.45 Through that mastery over the elements, comes the abilities of making the body atomically small, perfect, and indestructible in its characteristics or components, as well as brining other such powers. Swami Jnaneshhvara Bharati an American initiated by Swami Rama  (and others) in the Himalayan tradition.

/*As you may have discovered in studying these sutras on the elements that that they are numbered differently in different editions, due to the omission or inclusion of an earlier sutra III.22 “By meditation on the present moment’s reality, knowledge of past and future arises.” This sutra is removed from certain editions by those who believe it is a restatement of III.16 “knowledge of past, present, future through samyama on the threefold change.”  I think they are different. What do you think, and why? This teaches us something about the subtle and detailed nature of the kind of contemplations that Patanjali calls us to.*/

Let us step back a minute and consider anavaya, a word sometimes translated as interconnectedness, also a natural order of things, interrelation, continuity, and pervasiveness. It is one of the dimensions of the elements, together with gross form, essence, subtleness, and purpose, that Patanjali invites us to contemplate. Interconnectedness is not only a feature of the pervasive nature of the elements, but interconnectedness also defines the Sankha chart – there is this and then this and then this. While we are breaking down the Sankhya chart for the purposes of investigation – igniting an inner awareness of the facets of the chart that will guide our practice – the Sankhya chart functions as a whole – a universal engine of moving parts that make up the cosmos. In the “real world” as opposed to our digital conversation – the facets cannot be separated – just as you cannot pull apart the facets of a diamond. Each facet is a lens, but a diamond is one whole jewel. And like the facets of the diamond – we can look into the facets of the sankhya chart (i.e. the elements)  to glimpse the inner radiance that is the core of the practice, the inner radiance being the radiant spiritual illumination of awareness, which is known by many names. As practitioners this is key – if we decide to extract one piece of the practice and ignore it, the big picture unravels.

We discussed that in the descent from pure consciousness to matter that Sankhya maps,  water comes from fire (via condensation). From this perspective, water is denser, more material and more opaque than fire. But that does not mean it is more potent – this is  an important spiritual principle, that spiritual power overcomes pure material power. As we shall see, exploring the chart from the bottom to the top, as we go higher the potency of the facets increases.

Fire is the pivot point between the spiritual dimensions of consciousness and the material. Here we begin to see how a spiritual dimension of practice, say meditation or ahimsa (non-violence) can transform the physical world. In our passion for the illumined forms of practice – the clutter in our pranic channels is combusted quickly – impacting health, appearance, and relationships.

What arises as we contemplate fire?

Fire does not have a form like a physical object does, but it expresses as flames which are visible aspects of fire’s essential essence and purpose, combustion. The shape of the flame – its tangible outwardly visible form–  is  created by a combination of subtle and gross factors: the very physical nature of the fuel, the air flow around it, and gravity – the pull of the mass of the earth. The flame we see is a gaseous field with solid particles within it. Its form speaks to us of its nature, upward movement, luminosity, and transformation…a bridge from the spirit to the material and vice versa.

Fire, like water and earth, is all pervasive (anavaya) in its potential — from the illumination in the light bulb beaming down on my desk to the molten lava in the center of the earth, to the ignition in my digestive juices or in my car. The subtle element of fire is everywhere – even though its flame or form is not always visible. This is the contemplation of anavaya or interconnectedness.

Fire is incandescent, luminous, warming, and weightless. As water’s essence expresses in movement and flow, the essence of fire expresses itself in the process of combustion. Fire, which expresses as combustion, is associated with the Manipura chakra, situated in the solar plexus where our digestion occurs. Digestion, whether of food, residues of emotional processes, or the churned-up stuff of the ego identity, sits at the  heart of a successful the hatha yoga practice. The process of combustion is the process of digestion;  The process of combustion is the process of transformation. This is the contemplation of essence, the intrinsic, unchangeable essence or svarupa.

This essence of combustion reveals the purpose or arthavattva of fire. To combust or transform. For ancient peoples fire transformed logs into light and heat creating evolutionary visibility and the ability to stay warm and cook food. For the contemporary yogi, the fire element as it expresses through tapasya (austerity), physical heat and energetic combustions invoked by practice transforms the yogi into a potent, conscious, intentional action taker on the mat and in the world.

But to achieve this aim, the fire must be managed – both on the mat and off. Too much fire and the body wastes away, the mind becomes disturbed, and the practice gets disrupted. The practice is prescribed in a passionate “take no prisoners” form, but I believe the truth is that the perfect practice for each individual is the one where the fire is sufficient to clean them up, but not so strong that it depletes the subtle “juices” described in the texts (ojas, soma and others ) which  are fundamental building blocks of life. Traditionally, dairy products were consumed to offset the fire stoked by practice, but contemporary dairy products are tainted by the modern farming practices used in producing dairy. Almonds and coconut are two plant substances used to replace the traditional ojas replenishers.

Fire management is a key feature in the asanas themselves. Inversions interrupt the flow of soma into the digestive fire thus slowing down the aging process. Dhanurasana (bow posture) stokes the digestive fire, especially when you rock on the belly. All properly executed twists, but especially Ardha Matsyendrasana (seated spinal twist) stoke the fire in the manipura (The solar plexus) chakra, stimulating digestion. This is why we do not eat a meal for two hours before intense practice. It is like putting a big log on an open fire…if it is too big it puts the fire out. This is also why we do not drink water before and after practice. It dampens the transformative nature of practice.

What about hot yoga? Yes, herein lies the controversy around hot yoga. It jumpstarts the process of transformation with an external variable. I always liked hot yoga, but it does something different. The Tapasya or austerity is to endure the hot room. There are yoga precedents for this in certain kinds of fire ceremonies and rituals but just be mindful that this external fire does not work the same  way as the internal combustion facet of classical hatha yoga. In hot yoga the water element functions as a primary cleanser through ingestion during class and sweating. It is a little more accessible, but it does not have the same kind of bridging of spirit and material that classical hatha offers …to yoke the sun and the moon, the body with the divine.

Fire is a central element in the practice of yoga asana. It functions as a living bridge between spirit and matter, facilitating the classical aspiration of yogi to uncover their true nature.


By contemplating the gross form of fire, its subtle essence, its inherent continuity, and its purpose, we begin to see how the same luminous power that shapes the cosmos also shapes our inner world. And we begin to see  that the practices in the texts can contribute to our understanding of asana in powerful ways.

I always send out a newsletter concurrent with the blog post which covers the theme from a slightly different perspective and includes playlist ideas, mantras and anything else that comes up. I often include an “About the body” section that works with the ideas we are contemplating. I never use the emails for marketing purposes, just for information and fun. You’ll receive one newsletter a month, at most.

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Sankhya – Elements-Water

स्थूलस्वरूपसूक्ष्मान्वयार्थवत्त्वसंयमाद् भूतजयः ॥४४॥

sthūla‑svarūpa‑sūkṣmānvayārthavattva‑saṁyamād bhūta‑jayaḥ

By Samyama on their gross state, svarupa (essential nature), subtle state, interconnect3edness and nature of serving a purpose – mastery over the bhuta – elements(PYS, 3:44, tr. J. Houston)

ततो णिमादिप्रादुर्भावः कायसंपत्तद्धर्मानभिघातश्च ॥४५॥

tato ’ṇimādi‑prādurbhāvaḥ kāya‑saṁpat tad‑dharmān‑abhighātaś ca

From that, the emergence of such powers as becoming minute, etc. perfection of the body, and non-affliction by its constituents. (PYS, 3:45 tr. J. Houston)

One morning at 4 AM by the sea in Costa Rica, some students, all females, and I hopped in a van and traveled to a beach where it was reputed that the sea turtles would come to lay their eggs. We stood for while waiting.  First one then two, then a few then many of the magnificent beings, bodies reflecting forms of a time before time, mothers,  began to pull themselves out of the deep blue ocean with their front flippers.  Dragging their enormous water-built bodies from the sea and up far on the beach to dig their nests.  Young new mothers and ancient ones, dragging themselves up to the shore to lay their precious eggs.  One in particular drew our attention, for she was clearly the oldest and slowest of them all and was missing a front flipper.  Her arduous journey up the beach to participate in the creation of new life was breathtaking.  No Goddess I’d ever seen painted matched the feminine dignity of this, not so little, sea turtle.  After her eggs were laid, she dragged herself back towards the ocean, pausing frequently to rest from the extraordinary effort. 

Awe and deep love swirled around the group as we quietly murmured our support, “Go, you can do it!’ peppered with warm quiet laughter and tears.  In that moment we were no longer tortoises and humans – we were all just women – joined in that specific essence we could not name and maybe had never known before right now, seeded within the nature of the divine feminine.  That we would drag ourselves up the beach to dance with that cycle of life.  Mothers by role or not, we all shared something magical. It was like meeting ourselves and finding out exactly how beautiful we were. 

When she made it to the shoreline, we let out a cheer and watched her swim off into the deep blue sending her well wishes for a safe journey to an unknown destination.  As we gazed at the waves after she was gone with wistful sighs —all of a sudden —a flipper emerged from beneath the waves to give us a little wave.  I know I wasn’t alone in picturing our friend, diving deep into the vast primordial waters where she lived fully potent, fully alive, fully divine.

In our studies of the Sankhya chart, we now move through the water element, or Apas (waters -which include physical, cosmic, primordial as well as the qualities of water as expressed in the universe).  From the perspective of the Sankhya Chart – the elements serve as a ground level of interaction of consciousness with the physical plane; that is one thing.  But we can look to the sage wisdom of Master Patanjali in his yoga sutras to guide our yogic exploration of the elements.  In PYS, Patanjali advises contemplation of the elements from gross to subtle, so we bring to this exploration an open-mindedness and curiosity which exceeds the limits of our physical senses.  With curiosity and imagination, we ask…what are the qualities of water? 

One of the first things we might notice is that the water element overflows with the quality of infinite abundance. Surprising, as we do experience scarcity – there’s always water somewhere, in some form, just not maybe where we are.  And often it’s right here and we overlook it.  Scientists tell us that there is a fixed amount of water in the universe – infinitely recycling through the rain cycle – it doesn’t disappear.  And this is related to one of its other somewhat magical properties – it retains its molecular identity as water even when it turns into ice and steam. 

Its primordial nature is felt as a healing source deep in the psyche of perhaps in all beings.  While domestic cats are reputed to have an aversion to water, my Lakshmi, a pure bred feral (on the basis of some of her talents and behaviors, I don’t think her ancestors were domesticated) would sit in the California rain with a look of wonder and joy on her face – even when the warm dry apartment was mere feet away from where she sat.

The theory of evolution proposes that we emerged from the water – and transformed into beings who could breathe air and walk on the land.  The waters containing life existed long before we did.

Water exhibits cohesion – the particles of water have this amazing ability to cling together.  The molecule H20 is held together by covalent bonds.  That means hydrogen and oxygen aren’t bound together because they are each missing something.  That kind of bond can be easily split apart.  Water molecules are bonded through mutual sharing and attraction to each other’s atomic nuclei.  Do I hear divine essence?   I guess this is why the great mystical seers of the universe have associated the energy of water with relationships. Like the recycling quality of water, no relationship ever ends; it just becomes invisible for a while and life goes on eternally, whether through multiple lives or one eternal life.  That’s how we know that love is always behind relationship – even if its current form is not healthy.

Water embodies continuity – you can’t break it -even the solid quality of ice is a miracle.  It’s not like flour- granular as many solids are.  Water retains that continuity as it changes shape.

Water is nourishing, it has the ability to permeate and bind tissues.  Nutrients can dissolve in water.  This is how it becomes a container for life.

The water element is commonly associated with forward bends.  The meridians which run along the spine are associated with the bladder, and a most excellent forward bend will stretch and tonify those oh so important kidneys resting on your lower back.

Let’s consider Uttanasana – it’s stretches the entire back of the body along that bladder meridian.  If you crease at the hips (rather than rounding your back) your kidneys will get that gentle toning quality. 

Do you envy that person next to you who flops down in the forward bend.  Don’t. Sometimes they would really like to feel that same stretch you do!   That floppy quality points to an imbalance in the water element either at the physical or chakra level.  Likewise, if you can’t touch your knees and all the bend is happening at the rib cage, well, that would also indicate some imbalance there. 

I invite you to explore how you take your water and the quality of your forward bends rather than find a gimmick that tricks the body into what appears to be a better external picture of a forward bend.  The lines of the body should appear fluid, coherent and in some schools the linking of the hands and feet are used allowing circulation of “energy”.

It’s a beautiful thing about asana that we can learn to detect imbalances in the body and address them before they become fixed and stagnant.  These observations bring the ability to cultivate health.  Patanjali notes this as well!!

Consider how the structure of the connection to the earth impacts your Uttanasana.   If your weight is not evenly distributed through the feet (and maybe the hands) it throws off the continuity of the stretch through that back of the body.  This is just an example of the organic wholeness cultivated and expressed in asana.

And on a final note…water is VAST.  As I swam through the months of preparation and study of this element I realized that all I could do was a take a little cup of the ocean and suggest that you explore the realms of water in your own life, because there is so very much more to discover….🌍

**“As a yoga practitioner and teacher, I honor that yoga arises from a rich and ancient Indian tradition. I’ve learned that these teachings carry a depth and integrity that can support profound healing when approached with respect for their origins.

At times I use poetic or contemporary imagery to make concepts more accessible, but my intention is always to point students back toward the roots of the practice — the classical texts, the Vedic worldview, and the wisdom traditions that shaped yoga. These sources offer a depth that modern interpretations, including online content, can’t always provide.

My hope is to inspire curiosity about the lineage itself, and to encourage students to explore yoga’s original teachings as a living source of insight and transformation.”**

Sankhya Chart adapted from Vasant Lad's Chart, Illuminating the Elements
Sankhya Chart adapted from Vasant Lad’s Chart, Illuminating the Elements


Each post has a matching newsletter which looks at the material from a slightly different perspective. We try to have a structured study, moving through specific themes across month. Currently we are exploring the points on the Sankhya Chart.

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Sankhya chart: The Elements: Earth

/*note; there are more complex Sankhya charts – the one we are using is very basic*/

The elements are one section of the ground floor of the Sankhya Chart.  They are the basic building blocks of the physical object filled universe.  If we were standing at the bottom of the chart, looking up, we would see that things become simpler, less divided, as the chart ascends.  If we were at the top of the chart looking downward, we would see that the fundamental duality, Purusha and Prakriti, contain within them all of what descends from them; the top row further divides via the Prakriti into multiple smaller parts.  The elements are some of those smaller parts.  This process of division continues well beyond the base of the chart.  The process of re-unification continues well above the top of the chart.  The bottom of the chart — the level at which consciousness interacts with the material world — consists of the senses and the elements..  We have discussed the senses. We now begin to discuss five primary elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space.  The element Earth or Prithvi, our starting point, establishes the solidity of our physical experience. 

Sankhya Chart adapted from Vasant Lad's Chart, Illuminating the Elements
Sankhya Chart adapted from Vasant Lad’s Chart, Illuminating the Elements

The elements rarely, if ever, occur in a pure form.  They are always co-mingled with one another.  How this plays out becomes apparent by contemplation.  Think…mud, or ocean- salt- water. As yogi’s we learn to identify each element and then consider how we can contemplate them and subsequently work with them in our asana practice.  A well-done Asana practice will harmonize the elements but even greater is that asana practice is a means of direct experience of the elements. 

Let’s start with the words of sage Patanjali, author of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

From Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, third padah: 

/*PYS 3.44 One-pointed meditation on the five forms which every element takes, produces mastery over every element.  These Five forms are the gross nature, the elemental form, the quality, the pervasiveness and the basic purpose. */tr Alice Bailey

/*PYS 3.45 Through this mastery, minuteness and siddhis (powers) are attained, likewise bodily perfection and freedom from all hindrances*/ tr Alice Baily

The third padah, in which these sutras are placed, describes the expected results or expressions of power that arise with well-done practice.  The divine feminine force, Shakti, is the life force which the asana yogi learns to cultivate and move effectively through various yogic disciplines.  When concentration and intention merge in practice the yoga – the yoking –  results in various manifestations of power.  In full mastery the yogi becomes anchored in the experience of yoking to God.

These sutras describe the practice of Samayama (powerfully sustained steadfast concentration) on the elements, or a specific element.

Consider earth in the form of a mountain.  Tadasana. It is solid, stable, heavy, strong, dense, and movable only by the faith contained in a mustard seed.  It is the essence of physicality.  It might be nice to just sit for a while and contemplate an inner or outer image of a mountain.  After placing the body parts in order in your Tadasana, you might, while standing steadily, consider what it might be like to be a mountain.

In our bodies the earth element is associated primarily with muscle and bone.  Bone shares the structural and material qualities of crystals, which emerge from the earth itself. Bone also has association with another element – water – because of the essential marrow and marrow’s relationship to the liquids in the body. Muscle and bone together form the structural elements of our physical body and are the foundation of every asana.

Balance of the earth element in the body brings a sense of grounding which is uplifting rather than heavy.  As our good friend Patanjali says, our posture will then be steady and joyful.

/*The posture should be steady and joyful.*/ PYS 2.46 I believe this translation to be attributable to Sharon Gannon co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga.  Sukham – easy sweet joyful.  Sthira -strong and stable. 

/*Steadiness and ease of posture is to be achieved through persistent slight effort and through the concentration of the mind upon the infinite*/ PYS 2.47 tr. Alice Bailey

/*Then, no assaults from the pairs of opposites*/ PYS 2.48 tr. Manilal Nabhubai Dvivedi

Notice that the remedies in these translations point to the infinite.  It’s the aspiration of reaching for the higher realms of the Sankhya chart.  How nice that the posture trikonasana reflects the shape of the mountain and the Sankhya chart, while reaching for the infinite.  That reached up arm changes the whole relationship to the earth, doesn’t it?  And if you struggle with your shoulders in the posture, perhaps you are carrying too much on them and might invite some trust into your life. The solutions to asana challenges aren’t always fully resolved on the physical level, as we will discover as we climb the Sankhya Chart.

We don’t really need to understand that; we will experience the truth ourselves if we practice.  Yes, the key is practice – with a right amount of ease in working with the challenges you have chosen in your practice, and an elevated intention.

When we detach from forcing and allow ease to emerge, the parasympathetic nervous system can proceed with its magical powers of healing.  This deep level of healing resolves into improved adaptation and resilience.

For much of my life I had a tremendous aversion to cold.  A yoga friend once took me cold dipping in the San Pablo Bay north of San Francisco. Brrrrr. 
The water was 48 degrees.   As I gasped, she reminded me to “breathe…like yoga”.  It worked.  Quickly.  I was neck deep in the water, and blissful. There was no difference between the hot and the cold.  My experience of that yogic result was tested – within weeks of that date I moved to Arizona, in June, 120 degrees.  Moving furniture up and down the stairs.  I survived.  But the amazing thing was that my body completely adapted from the cold and damp of the Bay area to the extreme hot and dry of the desert.  It’s not a brag, I attribute this resilience to my years of yoga practice, and the discipline required to maintain the practice.  It’s something that naturally arises with well-done practice.  I was excited to experience it.

While exposing ourselves to hot and cold is not a prescribed practice for yoga asana, it does demonstrate the power of overcoming preferences in our practice.   Hot or cold room, soft or hard floor, alone or with others, hard or easy, with a teacher we like and or don’t like.  This overcoming of the pairs of opposites is a cornerstone of developing a practice that is steady and joyful.  Sthira and sukha.   This includes the conditions within the body as well.  In classical practices they would stay with pain.  I think this requires a tremendous amount of wisdom to do, but let’s face it, the postures aren’t built to be comfortable.  We don’t have to get to pain to have some work to do. We use our breath, our acceptance, our ease, our desire to be free to allow ourselves to relax into it mindfully. 

Transcending opposites will clarify the experience of your connection to the earth.  I have witnessed this in many students.  Consider how ungrounded we can become in the presence of a distraction in life or an annoyance during practice?  By training to overcome this we become more grounded, we feel our feet on the ground and present, and we come to know what the element of earth feels like. 

This brings us into harmony with right now, wherever we are, on planet earth. 

Every blogpost has a connected newsletter – in this month’s newsletter we talk about the element earth in nature and food, and the divine feminine .  You can sign up for future newsletters above.  I’ll never sell your information, and the newsletter is not used for promotion.  By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

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The elements: an overview

स्थूलस्वरूपसूक्ष्मान्वयार्थवत्त्वसंयमाद्भूतजयः

sthūlasvarūpasūkṣmānvayārthavattvasaṃyamādbhūtajayaḥ 

For some mysterious reason I am not well educated about – this sutra is sometimes listed as 3.44 and sometimes 3.45 of Patanjali Yoga Sutra.

/*One-pointed meditation upon the five forms which every element takes, produces mastery over every element.  These five forms are the gross nature, the elemental form, the quality, the pervasiveness and basic purpose.*/ tr – Alice Bailey

/*By Samayama on the gross and subtle elements and on their essential nature, correlations and purpose, mastery over them is gained.*/ Satchitananda 3.45

 Yoga asana develops a tremendous amount of will which unfolds into exceptional discernment. Through the discipline of our practices, learning to concentrate, to be aware in a moment and choose, we learn the potency of our choices.  Yoga is fun, and we don’t want to lose that, but to be aware of the potency of true practice opens the way for us to design a practice which will be most effective to suit our purposes.  Potency, wedded with intention, emerges as effectiveness and the kind of refined intelligence that is commonly called “wisdom”.  The word wisdom can be connected with inspiration and upliftment.  But well-done yoga results in a quality of discernment which supports a functional knowledge that transcends intellectual exercise.  I have a very different day when my practice is consistent and in order than I do when my practice is chaotic.  With balanced practice emerges a steady and healthy lifestyle which unfolds in personal well-being. 

We continue now to explore the Sankhya chart with a discussion about the elements.

Our exploration began with the senses, which are also on the ground floor of the chart.  We learned that yoga has a variety of tools to discipline the senses so we can use them effectively and come to an elevated state of consciousness as a result of doing that. In yoga, discipline and elevation are intimately connected.  The senses can pull us into the confusion that envelopes the world or they can support us in our journey to rise above that confusion and live effective lives. 

Sankhya Chart adapted from Vasant Lad's Chart, Illuminating the Elements
Sankhya Chart adapted from Vasant Lad’s Chart, Illuminating the Elements

The elements share the ground floor of the Sankhya chart. They bridge the external and internal worlds and through them we come to know ourselves as a part of the natural world.   The flow of water and the flow of emotions, the stability of earth and our capacity to stand tall, the transformative essence of fire and our ability to turn food into our bodies and logs into warmth, the breath of air which supports the flight of birds, moves rain filled clouds and enters our bodies as life sustaining breath, and finally ether which ignites the sound of music within us and carries it across time and space to be heard by another.  Ether is also associated with the womb of the universe  wherein the silent Om blooms forth into the struck or heard sound of OM which then gives birth to infinite worlds again and again – Om heard millions of millenia ago and heard now.

I invite you to get started with the exploration of the elements by just noticing them around you.  Earth, water, air, fire, ether.  What qualities do you note about them in a variety of locations and forms?  What happens when you interact with them?  Which element are present often?  Which don’t seem to be part of your life?  Some good practices for this are: spending time with nature whether it be potted plants and urban trees – or, if you are so blessed – going out on a hike. Observing food is another elemental awareness tool.    What is watery?  What is fiery? What is airlike in your diet?  Are there certain colors or smells, sounds or textures?   

Blessings and thanks,

Each blog post has a newsletter with it with a slightly different look at the material in the blogpost and with some supplemental materials – music or reading recommendations or discussions of meditation or asana techniques.  Please sign up to receive future newsletters and if you missed one you are curious about feel free to let me know.  I’ll try to send it out to you.

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Why practice ? 

Classical yoga is designed as an intentional practice where the body is used as a vehicle to know ourselves,  to realize ourselves in our whole true nature. This true nature is also referred to as the state of yoga, and it arises as we cease identifying with the fluctuations of the mind. When that happens….

तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपेऽवस्थानम् ॥ १.३ ॥

tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe’vasthānam || 1.3 ||

(3) Then the seer abides in His Own Nature   /*tr. Swami Satchitanada*/

Our true nature is understood to extend beyond the limits of our physical form, and  so we could think of the practices as tapping into, unlocking or accessing understanding, wisdom and creative capabilities which are beyond the firings of the neurons in our brain.  This experience of the state of yoga releases the time bound functions of ourselves, of the cells of the body, revealing the brightness of the mind. This occurs without force. Alignment of the body mind spirit in practice opens the portals.  When that occurs we discover potential – Our true nature or pure organic potential.  It’s mystical and it’s not religious.  These capacities extend  beyond the individual self so there is a recovery of knowledge.  There is also recovery of our connection with what we might call the universal mind and that in turn illuminates our connection to all other minds. (Sutra 4.4 personal translation) It’s also described as yoking to God  – an old fashioned word for something which is still contemporary and relevant. There are many ways to parse out this experience.

As yogi’s we are invited to travel the path to these results in a very personal way. 

The nature of discipline called for to achieve these ends is self-discipline.  Yoga is a study in self-discipline which, as it evolves, opens into a realm of refined and elegant personal sovereignty. Like any other craft, such a discipline invites us to do a little planning, a little strategy.  Yoga is not a “do your own thing kind of freedom” as much as it is a “refined structure revealing the deeper nature of personal freedom and potential” thing, and so it requires a little thought,  a little work, a little investigation. And so every year as I prepare for the practice of the coming year I ask myself – why practice?  Why practice in this way?  Why not throw it all away and take up pickleball like everyone else?

First I tend to approach this intention setting with an understanding of what’s happening.  What am I called to respond to? 

The world around us is currently in overdrive.  There is nothing peaceful and still about it.  In the world of business in particular – globalization, technology and competitive drive has created an environment which is sharp, deceptive, requiring of constant attention and agility , adaptation and perpetual learning, and study.  That what we are dealing with – if not for ourselves, for our children.  How can we craft practice goals for the year within that chaotic landscape?

This is how I see it, your place in the landscape is unique, You will have your own unique constellation of chaos. But the question the practice raises remains the same. And the faith piece is discovered through practicing in unlikely landscapes. The landscape dictates the curriculum. I encourage you not to make it all about fixing the chaos, but instead, about aligning you more deeply with your heart. It requires a relinquishment of the shoulds. “I gained weight this year. I should do a hard sweaty practice. My heart responds no, actually you need to relax, rest your nervous system and go out for walks, and maybe paint some yantras…because they are fun!” The new year is an invitation to tune into your heart and listen to what it longs to do. The faith piece or shraddha is the faith that that all the different shapes of yoga are designed to support us. So we might ask – what does yoga do and how can I work it to apply it in my present circumstance?  What is my central intention?  And what tools in my toolkit will help me fulfill that intention?

Establishing a clear intention to pursue the bountiful rewards of yoga – that accessing of an infinite well of understanding, creativity, healing, joy, love and accomplishment- supports a swifter approach the goal. Patanjali tells us:

Yoga Sutra 1.21: Tīvra-saṃvegānām āsannaḥ

तीव्रसंवेगानामासन्नः ॥ १.२१ ॥

tīvrasaṃvegānāmāsannaḥ || 1.21 ||

/*To the keen and intent practitioner this Samadhi comes quickly.*/tr. Swami Satchitananda

/*Success is nearest to those whose efforts are intense and sincere.*/tr. Osho

Samadhi, this full consciousness of the yoga – nothing lacking, is realized most quickly when we embrace that fullness as a goal.  When we know where we are going (having intent) will get us there faster.  Yes, Samadhi is a meditative state to be attained, but if sustained we can be in it all the time.  After all Swami Satchitananda, a renunciate, built Yogaville, Om’d at Woodstock and changed the landscape of American thought – no small feat. Osho – having attained Samadhi at an early age rocked the world with his radical upending of spiritual norms.  And so did Gautama Buddha. A well-structured yoga practice supports a well constructed life. We may not become celebrities, but our impact is vast nonetheless.

So, our intentions are critical for they will contribute to the world in a bigger way than we might imagine.

Because of the subtle and vast nature of yoga, I’ve found it works best to set a subtle intention for the year, i.e. to understand peace or creation or backbending rather than to stop being angry, manifest a stack of gold and do urdhva dhanurasana. Being specific in that way can also yield quick results but the subtler intentions bring effective long term healing and transformation. For starters you may want to peruse Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, third padah, The Vibhuti Padah. This entire section of the book speaks of attainments in yoga. Used incorrectly they can be obstacles to the larger goal of samadhi, but the study of their nature will give you an idea of how yoga works. It’s a list of what you might concentrate on, and the result that comes from concentrating in that way. By focusing on an elephant, you gain the strength of an elephant and so on. An intention is no more than what you will concentrate on, invite in, seek out and look for. Maitri or friendliness, how about that for an intention!

Because yoga is affilitated with the realms beyond desire, I invite you to craft your intentions beyond desire. Consider it as the study that it is, and trust that what the practice will evoke and bring forth from you and for you will grace you with sublime understanding of that which you seek to be creating.

Scroll down for some thoughts about posts the coming year. For in depth commentary on some of the aspects of the blogposts, please sign up for the newsletter. This isn’t for marketing, ever. It’s designed to be thought provoking and inspire you to practice yoga!

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We will continue our journey through the map of the Sankhya Philosophy in the coming year, with a resurrection of the “About the body” teachings and some structured discussion on asana. 

It took us a year to get through the senses.  Of course it did, the sense organs are anchored into dense physical reality totally bound by the slowest vibration of earth.  Slow is not bad…but we are talking the material world, very dense – which is also not bad.  But as we move our way up the chart to the highest states of consciousness the subtleties of energy, mind and beyond – we become lighter, less time bound.  It’s a science fiction idea, but something the human race is embracing.  Time is fluid and can be our tool rather than our master.  As we explored the senses we discovered means to manage them, and to purify them.  These sense directed practices continue as long as we are practicing, although we may engage with them differently along the way.  In January we will begin with our exploration of the elements, also materially but molecular and energetic as opposed to solid.  If you have ever had acupuncture you’ve worked with your elements.  And now, acupuncture is a common feature of medical practice.  We are all lightening up! 

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sight, vision and yoga

Present in the yoga cosmologies is an  understanding that the world, the physical world with which we interact every day, is an illusion –  “Maya”.  What is  not an illusion is the love that is the creator who goes by many names. The illusion is ever changing but the loving awareness behind it stays constant and the same.  That loving awareness is within us and around us – omniscient, omnipotent, and everlasting.  The Sankhya philosophy maps out the non-spatial terrain between our sensory interactions with the illusion and our experience of that omniscient loving awareness. Our senses interact with Maya – and that is the field we must work with on our journey. Our sense of sight relates uniquely and powerfully to the experience of the illusion.  Through sight, we see a world full of enemies or friends, flowers or concrete. As with all the other senses, the yogic approach is to purify the sense of sightn so we can have direct vision through the eyes of loving awareness.  As our yoga practices blossom we don’t make ourselves think something positive about the world around us so we see it out there – we actually begin to naturally see differently.

We can consider two components of seeing and vision: the physical eyes (and all the associated physical organs), and the spiritual eye – which only opens as a result of spiritual conditions.  The physical eye sees the world of lack and separation – the illusion.  The spiritual eye sees the truth – loving awareness.  The seeing mechanisms of the physical eyes have a way of blocking the vision of the spiritual eye.   By consciously directing the use of our physical eyes, we unblock the visions of the spiritual eye. The means of preparing for this are our standard yogic tools of discipline (training the eye to focus), renunciation (turning our focus away from disturbing visions) and elevation (cultivating the desire to see in a more uplifted way, and seeking association with others who sincerely are seeing in that way). 

One fundamental practice is to monitor carefully what we allow in our visual field.  The yogi cultivates discernment and turns the gaze away from that which is not conducive to their path.  It’s not about ignoring the challenges before us, but but we don’t allow our sight to become absorbed in it. Think of the last explosive movie you saw…it’s easy to get pulled in. There are paths which work specifically with gazing on death or destruction but personally I don’t work with them, and I don’t recommend them – not because they are wrong, but because I believe that it requires extraordinarily skillful means to navigate that kind of practice effectively. It’s not something to be over confident or over trusting about.  It tends to plump the ego. There are many other simpler approaches.   

We work to choose what to invest our sight in. I think the best example of the challenge of gazing at the destructive was the television reporting after the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center.  I lived in New York City – and all our televisions went out – and were out – for days.  Most of us there saw the event as it unfolded in the material world around us.  The internet was not yet a primary source of information.  So, we went about doing what we needed to do.  Meanwhile in the suburbs and towns across the United States of America – the public was tuning in to a 24/7 hour a day show of the repeat of the film of the towers going down.  Many felt compelled to watch to be in the know about what was going to happen next.  I must say, my friends who watched that loop on repeat had a much harder time dealing with the trauma than most of the people I knew who lived in the city at that time.  That image of destruction looping before their eyes was burned into their consciousness – together with the accompanying fear.  Watching doom on a long term basis can create some inner conditions that are difficult to deal with and heal from.  So, yes, we must pay attention to the illusion, but elements of it which keep us fixed in undesirable states of mind we consume only enough to have the information that we need to manage our lives.  In this case a yogic choice may have been to check in from time to time for updates rather than really tuning for a long period of time.

In general the act of gazing magnifies what you absorb through the eyes.  Surround yourself with simplicity, beauty, upliftment, and check any tendency to rubber neck when the horrific or compelling crosses your path.  This isn’t a prescription for walking away from a tragedy where one might be helpful, but it is a prescription for discernment. While doing the work of helping if called to do so, the yogin focuses on the potential to be helpful and not the apparent tragedy.

A question we can ask ourselves regarding right sight is “Do I want my life force (or my time)  to be spent looking at this?” Intention and conscious decision making are fundamental to success in yoga.  Know that what you absorb will, in some way effect the mind.

The potency of the ability to direct our gaze becomes illumined as we train on our yoga mats and meditation cushions.  The directed gaze becomes a propellant for the movement of the life force, or prana, traveling in the yogi’s sushumna nadi (a central pranic channel which travels along the spine).  The gaze “pulls” the life force. An uplifted gaze will pull the prana upward.  This is cleansing and uplifting.

The directed gaze in an asana is called “Drishti”. Drishti means sight or vision.  In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.37 we meet this beautiful description of the practice of Siddhasana or Adept’s pose. 

“Press the perineum with the heel of one foot, place the other foot on top of  genitals.  Having done this, rest the chin on the chest.  Remaining still and steady, with the sense controlled, gaze steadily into the eyebrow center; it breaks open the door to liberation.” P 102,   Swami Muktibodhananda tr. Translation by the Bihar school

Drishti is a practice where the Hatha yogin rests a soft gaze on a specific point while performing, moving into or out of their asana.  Opinions vary as to where to rest your gaze.  Some general principles to keep in mind are that you should select a gaze where the back of the neck is long and the heart lifted.  A well-chosen and executed Drishti is not just about the eyes, it’s about the whole body.  As your sense of Sthira and Suhka (steadiness and joy in a posture) develops in your practice, the whole body will be energized and uplifted by the gaze.  The body looks towards the divine. So, yes, generally it will be an uplifted gaze.  For specific instructions on drishti in various yoga postures see Light on Yoga, BKS Iyengar.

This uplifted gaze also is born in the mind of the yogi.  As we shall see when we get to the mind in our exploration of the building blocks of Sankhya Philosophy, the mind influences the senses and the senses influence the mind. And uplifted mind uplifts the gaze and an uplifted gaze uplifts the mind.

Another very potent yoga practice related to the sense of sight is tratak.  Tratak is a meditative, deeper more focused form of Drishti.  Taking a classic meditative posture, the yogin gazes, without blinking, at a candle lit at eye level until tears come and the eyes are flushed out.  Then, the yogin closes the eyes and gazes at the third eye center between the eyes and slightly back.  An inner vision will manifest of the flame, a blue dot, a deity.   The key to the practice is the steady gaze and not giving in to the temptation to close the eyes. Give the practice a specific length of time, say, 20 minutes.

 The practice of tratak is woven deeply into the experience of the third eye and the power of manifestation through the Manipura Chakra (the Solar Plexus Chakra). I don’t really recommend trying to manifest a specific desire, but rather to understand that  the truest desires of the heart – which we often are unaware of –  will manifest organically as we develop the skillful means of yoga: concentration, awareness, letting go, balancing, contemplating the Ageless wisdom, and cultivating joy, to name a few.

/*This concludes our exploration of the senses as the ground floor of the map of the Sankhya philosophy – the direct experience of the world around us and how we can work with them effectively to enhance our yoga asana practice. For the next post we will begin the elements.  All of the blogposts are accompanied by a separate newsletter I send out via mailchimp.  There is no marketing or advertising or charge (I promise)– it’s a just to share some deeper details with motivated students.  This month’s newsletter will touch on Yantras, and a closing statement on the senses.  If you’d like to sign up for the newsletter please subscribe below.  I don’t sell your info, I promise.  You can see this month’s newsletter at https://mailchi.mp/05b51002ed24/sankhya-the-senses-sight*/

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Through the portal from Taste to Smell: Discernment and the Smell of the Earth

Once in the early 2,000’s a friend and I were strolling and shopping and dining in Greenwich Village when we came upon a small store – just a nook really,  filled with shiny clear rectangular  glass bottles stacked on wooden shelves.  A slender handsome hipster  with an untucked navy blue  shirt and somehow stylishly elegant slightly faded jeans manned the counter. 

The bottles and their rectangular labels  were identical except for the unique word on each label: Rain, Dirt, Beach, Grass, Dog among the hundreds. 

In response to our outburst of giggles he offered sample smells.

A gentle whiff of “dirt”;and I was transported out of the concrete canyon and back to a time before vanity when I was a simple child doing what kids like to do.  Play in the dirt.

Tobacco – was my 1960s father and warm leaves drying in the sununveiling a thought of slaves picking leaves in the hot, hot sun and wondering if the fragrance for them was unpleasant.   Grass in a bottle was a little too much for both of us, but we both loved tobacco which was mysterious and somehow informative.

 Smell emerges in the first trimester of a babies development, the smell of placenta and mother creating a subtle earthy unbreakable bond. 

Smell evokes memories – our minds travel far into our histories and possible futures in the presence of them.

The Sankhya philosophy as commonly mapped on a chart lines up, as a bottom line foundation, the senses.  Our connection to the physical realm moves directly through the five sense faculaties and the elements.  This will become more meaningful as we move beyond the dense material realm.

Smell is associated with the subtle element earth – the root chakra, the mooladhara chakra – the focal point of the yogi’s shift of attention from the material realm upward from the realms of hunger and fear into more exalted states of consciousness…into awareness, understanding and wisdom. Smell evokes an understanding of ourselves in time, life and death, and anchors us in the physical.

In that essential awakening into that experience of life and death we meet the kaladanada…the yogi’s alchemical transformation from death to immortality.  Yes, they actually mean that.  Hatha Yoga was a practice of alchemy – a system based on primordial wisdom encoded in the sound of Om.  Smell and it’s essential nature is a portal into the ancients through the root chakra, like an uplifting song moves us upward, so does an uplifting fragrance.

Of course for asana yogis, in the days that we still did this…wafting incense – burning of the earth, the smell of smoke offered up to the heavens – an invitation for ascended beings physical and non-physical to bless us with our wisdom. 

I always promise you will never receiving marketing emails from me – nor will I sell your information. But each blogpost has a newsletter with is, slightly different variations on a theme. sometimes really important divergent perspectives on what we are talking about…sometimes just a mantra, maybe suggested reading. Sometimes it’s just a sharing for a more selective audience. If that sounds interesting to you, please join my Mailchimp.

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Yoga and taste – cultivating essence

Essence by Natalie Ullmann

रसोऽहमप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभास्मि शशिसूर्ययो: ।
प्रणव: सर्ववेदेषु शब्द: खे पौरुषं नृषु ॥ ८ ॥

raso ’ham apsu kaunteya, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu, śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 Sloka 8

7.8: I am the essence of pure water, O Arjuna, the radiance of the sun and the moon. I am the sacred syllable Om among the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether, and the ability in humans. (Bhagavan Shri Krishna)

In this sloka from the Bhagavad Gita Krishna points out that divinity expresses as the essential quality of all things.

I’d like to add the “leap of the cat” to this list.  My cat Lakshmi has had number of serious physical challenges – she is 13 and continues to blossom thrive.  Over the years I’ve seen that the sign that she is truly on the mend is the return of the “leap”.  She’s been recovering from surgery and I was delighted the other day to see her leap up on a forbidden table and knock over a lamp – signs of life. 

In our exploration of the senses – taste has a big part of play as a portal to the tangible essence of purity in the physical realm. 

The journey of yoga is a journey of reclaiming the aspects of ourselves that are NOT physically based.  It’s a journey to understand and experience our essential nature  which is unlimited and  wholesome(which is more fun than it sounds).   As the reclaiming occurs we discover our essential nature is divine.  We come to know what that means, and through that we come to know the divinity all around us and beyond us.    

Sankhya, a classical philosophy of India, commonly taught alongside the practices of yoga, is represented by a chart of the journey from the densest physical experience to the essential sublime.  We have been exploring how the construction of the chart can be  used to hone and develop our practices in such a way that they have depth, sustainability and transformative potency.

With the sense of taste we delve into a further mining of the yogi’s jewel of discernment.  Though cultivating full awareness of the tastes we ingest we begin our journey to discern the pure, the nourishing, the essential.  Developing a taste for this in our food extends out into the development of the taste for that which is truly clear, supportive and essential in our lives.

The yogi’s journey is  very much about minimalism as ideal self-care. To hone simplicity, balance, nourishment and well-being in such a way that we can maintain it easily and leave time for practice.  The good life is an uncluttered life.    From this perspective an ideal is to learn to identify what is essential and detach from everything else.

To begin to taste pure food and pure water is to begin the journey of deep knowing about what we need – to care for our physical bodies, our relationships, our roles;  uncovering that which is essential for our well-being.  This isn’t good or bad – it’s practical.  Every facet of our lives take time.  By identifying that which is essential we can streamline. 

This is not to say that we don’t have fun from time to time. 

So how do we engage our sense of taste in a productive way?

Taste is a reflect of something – a reflection of qualities of a substance or an object.   Lettuce is light and juicy, potatoes are sweet and earthy, brown rice is also sweet and tomatoes are zingy and pungent.   Fresh food tastes vital and bright and stale  food tastes dull and  flat.  Our food is transformed into body tissue, and the more vital the body tissue, the more rapidly we will progress in our yoga practice. Imagine pouring red beets into your bloodstream, or cleansing the body with juiced fresh kale – dark robust and full of chlorophyll. 

Some general rules which can help with the development of yogic taste:

Think live instead of dead.  (fresh broccoli vs.  a hamburger)
Simple instead of processed.  (baked potato vs a potato chip)
Mother nature instead of the chemist (fresh herbs and spices vs. “natural flavoring”)
Nutritious instead of empty. (Butternut Squash vs. refined sugar)
Varietal instead of dull (Beets, cabbage, lettuce, lemon, seaweed vs. lettuce every
single day).
Satisfying instead of depriving (taco Tuesdays with fresh corn tortillas and tomatoes
vs. brown rice and broccoli every day)

The yogi develops deep awareness of the sense of the taste of freshness.  At first, it may not seem like the most fulfilling choice.  The experienced yogi may enjoy both steamed broccoli and store bought highly processed French fries – but recognizes clearly the fulfillment of the taste of freshness in in the steamed broccoli.  Divinely made -with discernment, the taste of fresh vegetables surpasses anything man made -without effort.  The more awareness we have around those choices – the more our sense of taste develops.

Remember, as hatha yogis we are transforming the lead of our bodies as they are into the alchemical body – withstanding of all disease processes, a body which can regenerate and heal itself.  We change on a molecular level through practice.  Nourishing the body with that which is pure and wholesome, comes from nature supports a practice through which the nature potency of the body mind spirit complex is brought forth. 

For every blog post (about once a month or less – there is an accompanying newsletter with a different perspective on the subject at hand. Yoga after all is experienced as trying things on from one perspective to another and another until the light goes on about the whole that encompasses the parts. You will not be subjected to marketing.

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An Intro and a Segue from Touching to Hearing; CAN YOU HEAR ME? TURNING TOWARDS THE SOUND OF OUR OWN HEARTS

For those of you first joining us, we have been looking at our yoga practices from the perspective of the classical teachings found in the yoga philosophy and related  texts.  We’ve been using the classical teachings as maps to explore in our asana practice.  The segment we are working on now is a segment on the Indian philosophy of Sankhya. The map of the philosophy is shown below.  It is a map of the cosmos from a particular perspective.  We are journeying from the densest most physical aspects of our being to the most ethereal aspects of the cosmos.  Technically, Sankhya and Yoga are completely separated disciplines. Philosophy, science, art are evolving permutations of interwoven understanding. All philosophies, sciences and arts touch one another, influence one another evolve one another. There is likely more than one map of Sankhya floating around the universe or the internet and ideas – like philosophy – end to cross-pollinate.  Most yoga teachers learn about Sankhya philosophy in teacher training and I believe it’s worth exploring the subtle influence that it may have exerted in the understandings of yoga that have emerged.  This post is  not intended as a definitive answer to the question of what the Sankhya philosophy is, but  rather how we can use an understanding of the philosophy to deepen our lived understanding of ourselves and our yoga practices.

/*Patanjali advises in Yoga Sutra 2.46:

*स्थिरसुखमासनम् ॥४६॥

sthira-sukham-āsanam ||46||

The posture should be stable and easeful. */

We began our exploration of Sankhya and the senses with the sense of touch.  We’ll be moving into an exploration of the sense of  hearing, but first there are a few additional notes on working with the sense of touch as it relates to our asana practice. 

As we develop our practices and deepen our awareness of touch – subtle deep unconscious patterns of tension will surface in our practice.  There are two  facets of working with that tension: first, to release those deep stress patterns and second, to move our bodies (on and off the mat) in ways that minimize the creation and holding of those stress patterns.  When practicing asana it is important not to pile new tension patterns on top of the more deeply held ones in our eagerness to make a posture happen.

The primary way that a new tension pattern is created is to skip a level of your practice.  To push through to a new level of posture before you have released the tension patterns which were revealed in a lighter expression of the posture.  This results in a strain in the body’s tissue as opposing forces are exerted on a joint, muscle, or a specific pattern in the fascial tissue. 

/*Forcing a yoga posture to happen is not the same as transcending pain and pleasure.*/

To stay in ease is to stay in union (yoga).  To force, grip or struggle is to create separation – dis-ease.  Anti-yoga.  To stay in ease doesn’t mean you don’t work hard, stay focused and open to the idea that you might be able to accomplish something beyond your own expectations. Consider this: a certain amount of ease is necessary for any kind of success.

And then there is prana…

As we begin to develop discernment through the sense of physical touch in our practice, we will develop a sensitivity that allows us to detect sensory experiences which originate in prana.   Prana is a subtle substance –  an energy. Like sound it travels and has a felt presence.  Like sound it manifests in a spectrum where different beings can perceive different levels of it.  We know that different species perceive sensory information very differently.  That would be true of perceiving prana as well.  Some of us can feel it acutely, some of us can’t feel it at all. 

And finally, sound is prana.  Sound in various subtle degrees travels through the body in pranic circuits. This is why it reveals and heals. When we touch the ground with our hands and feet the channels are charged with the heartbeat of the earth.

As we begin to  develop this feeling/touch/sensory discernment we discover that some of what we perceive as physical pain are  actually blockages or fragilities which on the level of prana.

The clarity of the pranic channels (which we can feel through our sense of touch) is directly related to our capacity to hear and to hear on a subtle level (and to see and to smell and to taste, etc).  This is the connection between touch and hearing in the yoga practice

/*Notice in the modified Sankhya Chart below the position of the sense on the map*/

CAN YOU HEAR ME? TURNING TOWARDS THE SOUND OF OUR OWN HEARTS

The Sankhya philosophy provides one possible map of the terrain of the mind body spirit connection.  The journey can unfold as a trip where we elevate from tuning in only to our dense physical senses to opening to consciousness awareness in different degrees.  This would commonly be called a journey towards enlightenment.  The journey can also unfold as a kind of embodiment – where  – like shamen we experience an inspired state of consciousness and then bring the inspiration down, to  embody and manifest that experience in the physical world.  One of the most “known” experiences of this process of bringing spirit into physical reality is the manifestation of deep healing by various saints and mystics.  Probably the most well-known is Jesus – whose miraculous healings of lepers and raising of the dead are probably heard of by most people, even if they don’t believe in it.  If you dig enough there are tales of other such healings by saints in all traditions.  A more secular example of bringing spirit into the physical  occurs with inspired innovations i.e. the light bulb or the personal computer.  Sometimes innovation is planned and sought after but often it’s inspired. 

The senses are the interface of consciousness with the manifested world on the Sankhya map.  We touch the world, we hear the world, we see the world and so on. The yogi seeks to manage and clear the senses so that they do not interfere with our exploration of elevated states of consciousness.  Yoga seeks to do what some people turn to substances to do. Drugs can numb the chatter of the mind, drugs can ignite an expanded state of consciousness. But with yoga, these states are attained through personal mastery, awareness and skill (i.e. mastering and clearing the senses). It removes the dependency that substances require.  Yogis are independent.

Mastery of sound is an essential practice in hatha yoga. The yogin becomes unified with the ancient wisdom that permeates the deep silence connected with through practice.  Then, the yogin aspires to staying harmoniously anchored in that “vibration” as they move through the world. This vibration  is depicted by the ubiquitous symbol Om.  Asana practice is both the ground of that harmonic synchrony and the training for sustained experience of that harmonic synchrony.  There are a variety of practices used to cultivate this experience.   In a very straightforward everyday way on the mat we can begin to condition ourselves to excel in these practices.  The training goes something like this:

  1.  External sounds capture our attention on the mat. Some are quite annoying – talking,  sirens, construction, airplanes, and other machinery.  The yogin trains themselves to turn their attention from the external noise and into the inner landscape. There they meet another layer of sound –
  2. Internal Chatter. Much of the chatter of our minds originates in experiences and beliefs rooted in the past with  no place in the present.  With mindful attention the yogi becomes aware of their absorption in this inner chatter and they train themselves to turn inward to a still deeper level of sound –
  3. Subtle Sounds – The yogin hear many subtle sounds within as their pranic channels are cleared through consistent practice – Bells, whistles, drums and humming.  In time, willingness to turn away from these distracting subtle sounds reveals yet a deeper subtler sound –
  4. Nadam – Most likely this is the subtlest sound that a human can hear.  It is steady, constant, ever present – like white noise but more ethereal.  Tuning our attention away from more overt inner and outer noises to this perpetual background hum within and without, and allowing ourselves to relax into it begins a process of deep healing and awakening.   But even then…the yogin turns their attention away from it, and towards something deeper –
  5. The Anahata Nadam.  The anahata nadam is the sound that is complete silence without vibration – the “unstruck” sound.  Here the yogin relaxes into the deep silence and in stepwise fashion becomes absorbed in expanding stages of continuity. 

We practice this way on the mat, and asana facilitates this process.  In later stages conscious meditative seats (asanas) like virasana and padmasana support the process of allowing ourselves to be absorbed in silence without falling asleep or going unconscious.

In practicing asana how can we support this process in personal practice or when leading a class?  The playlist.  The playlist is most beneficial at early stages of this process.  When the chatter of the mind is overwhelming and distracting on the mat that is when you want the playlist.  It is also really helpful in situations of deep unconsciousness where you or those you are leading just can’t stay present – which is a result of trauma.  It either wakes you up or calms you down.  The goal is the experience of yoga – this inner absorptive yoking.  It’s important to be aware that familiar music or verbal music will have associated mental imagery and memories and feelings that will be ignited and it’s likely to draw the attention outward rather than inward.  Sometimes this is needed.  But just be aware that a rousing playlist of familiar or exciting song might operate in a way that is inconsistent with your goal. 

When you create your playlists consider creating a musical experience which propels the journey towards yoga and not to somewhere else.  Like a soundtrack to a movie you are building up to something:   an experience of yogic absorption for yourself or the student. 

Indian classical music is designed to take you to this point, so it’s very useful. But if you use it too early in the process it can be too potent and cause a different kind of distraction.

Consider as well that when we take in music it can nourish us; pure sounds are deeply nourishing.  Note that doesn’t always mean soft or new agey.  A pure note is a perfect note.  Some music that we love has those pure notes, and you will develope an ear for the perfect note as your practice unfolds.  Allowing yourself to be nourished by deep clear sound is deeply healing as well as enlightening, and this can lead to all kinds of magnificence if approached with an open mind and heart. 

The anahata nadam – that deepest level of sound resides in your spiritual heart.  That’s where the note of silence lives.  So when you touch it for the first time as a yogi you will feel and hear the spiritual heart. 

Working with sound in asanas is accessible to all  and an abundant and beautiful experience. 

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Sankhya, sovereignty and the sense of touch

In our investigation of the Sankhya philosophy and asana we begin with a study of the senses.   On the map, the senses are on the bottom row, left side – classified under sattva.  (see image below) For now we will consider sattva as awareness.  Senses are intimately connected to the quality of awareness.  Classically,  yoga is a discipline through which we access and become aware of our inner wisdom through practices by which we are trained to withdraw our senses from the external world.  As we turn them inward – our connection to the sacred and the infinite resources of wisdom and awareness are revealed.  The magnificence of asana is that it is a physical practice which results in a state of transcendent experience and understanding beyond the physical. Working consciously with our senses facilitates opening to greater levels of awareness and allows us to realize those more illumined states of awareness in the physical world.

When we practice, keeping measured attention on the breath will develop the objectivity we need to interpret the information we take in through our senses.

We can think of the information that we take in from our senses as data and the understanding and interpretation of that data is done by the mind.  Sankhya philosophy identifies different aspects of mind.  We’ll get to that later.  I just point this out because it’s just like looking at a spreadsheet,   The numbers don’t mean anything.  The meaning comes from analysis and the purpose with which you observe and work with  them. The more we can step back into an objective, non-interpretative relationship with our sense data the more we will understand about yoga.  For example, pain can be dangerous, healing, warning, or a clue for a potential adjustment. We need to be in a non-interpretive state to discern the meaning of the pain.

The following five senses organs are enumerated in the sankhya philosophy: 

The eye, the ear,  the tongue, the nose and the skin.

The disciplines of focus and austerity in the yoga practice are designed so that, just as we might learn to articulate the movement of a limb, we might also manage those sense organs.  As our practice evolves into greater levels of subtlety, we become masters of how a given piece of sensory data is interpreted.

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Today I’d like to consider touch.  Touch is a very physical sense and the physical body is the asana yogi’s primary vehicle.  The fundamental  and first level of awakening awareness of touch in the yoga practice comes through the feet on the ground.  Consider the following progression: 

  1. Tadasana: mountain posture – the feet are both on the ground  steady and even – the weight dispersed through the pads of the toes the ball and the heel. Both feet work together as one foot.
  2. Vrksasana – tree posture – we shift the weight to one foot, and connect the sole of the other foot to the inner leg.  The weight of the body is evenly dispersed through the standing foot
  3. Virabhadrasana 2 – warrior II -we begin to master weight distribution between two feet with the same sense of dispersion between the toe, ball and heel pads. 
  4. Adho Mukha Vrksanana – handstand – all the weight on two hands (look ma – no feet!)
  5. Adho Mukha Svanasana – Both hands and both feet on the earth and separated and new possibilities emerge in terms of weight distribution and articulation of the hands and feet against the earth. 

Some things we might note:

  • The touch of the body against the earth
  • The touch of two parts of the body against one another
  • The touch sensation of distribution of weight.
  • The touch sensation of activation of muscles and pressure.
  • Add to this the qualities that might be included in the experience of touch:
    • pain
    • pleasure
    • revulsion
    • hot or cold
    • heavy or light

Through attention and awareness the sense of touch becomes proprioception and kinesthetics – where our awareness of the inner landscape awakens and knowing our purpose in time and space. 

Take it further –   what is revealed is how the body works – including the internal organs.  Through attention to the more overt layers of sensation – awareness of the subtle developes and we awaken into clairsentience.  “I have a feeling”.  It’s like a gut instinct but much subtler and tuned to a different frequency.  Consider laying your hands on someone – a gesture of friendship or love or passion – all different frequencies or “vibes”.  Touch also has a relationship with the heart – this “I have a feeling” is a dimension of the emotional heart but also the spiritual heart. 

For the asana yogi, the heart is the seat of the nadam, the inner guru, sound vibration, the sound of vibration of Om.  Yes.  Vibration.  Detected by touch. 

When we practice asana we open doors to expanded understandings of….well, everything.  So as we pay attention to touch in practice – it opens the question of “pain” in yoga practice.  Many opposing views of how to relate to pain in yoga are espoused in the yoga community.  But through awareness we develop discernment about the sensations in our body – like pain.  This awareness is related to our personal sovereignty.

Consider a way  of relating to ourselves and the world which relies totally on external sources for interpretation (the doctor, the internet, our mother, the person one mat over from us in class).  This way of relating which denies our capacity to interact observe and interpret the signals of our own body.

Consider a way of relating  where the sensation itself governs us.  For example “Oops I feel something – I’m not going there into that forward bend, back bend, – I’m going to avoid sensation completely”.  The healing potential of the posture is never even approached.  We give our power of choice away to the sensation.

Consider a different way of relating, different than the ways described above.  Consider becoming aware of a sensation, observing, breathing, noticing the quality, and then noticing the quality change as we gently shift the body part a millimeter, or stretch a little deeper.   Then we come to know:

 “Oh – this pain indicates I need  the attention of the doctor”, or  

“Oh, this pain indicates I need to go deeper in the practice”, or

“Oh, this pain indicates I need to be gentle in practice”, or

“Oh, this pain indicates I’ve been slumping at my desk.”

Through careful observation of sensation we reclaim our power of CHOICE.  No small thing.  Moving into this state of sovereignty by activating awareness and choice –  we no longer make the pain all powerful by ignoring, fighting or delegating it.  We hold the possibility in our hands and through attention we discern the next best step towards wholeness, healing and yoga.

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An image of the chart of the sankhya philosophy with senses illuminated.