Is Yoga Cultural Appropriation?
Swami Ji, the OG
What is cultural appropriation? Cultural appropriation is defined as the process by which Intellectual property, artifacts, dance, clothing/fashion, language, music, food, religious symbols, medicine, wellness practices and more are used for purposes that were unintended by the original culture and may even be offensive to that culture. With yoga, this can often be seen through the adaptation of practices in ways that sterilize them for the West by stripping the spiritual aspects of the philosophy, by refusal to use Sanskrit words, or by removing the symbols or stories that exemplify the...
info_outline
Journey Into Your Being Plus a Meditation Practice
Swami Ji, the OG
Today we are going to discuss the components of who you are, and then you will be guided through a short meditation. Feel free to listen to the discussion portion, but then stop the recording before doing the meditation if you are not in a location where you can sit quietly and still with the eyes closed. You may have heard the common definition of yoga is “union” and it comes from the Sanskrit word ‘yug’ meaning to yoke. If we think about how buffalo are yoked together or horses or sled dogs are joined together, the purpose of yoking is to unite multiple forces to create...
info_outline
Making Life Simple and Easy
Swami Ji, the OG
Is your life simple and easy? I believe it can be and for the last couple of years, I’ve challenged myself to create a life that is becoming simpler and easier. Prior to this time my life was so full it was overflowing, and it often left me drained to the point where I felt so weighted down that I could barely keep moving forward. In 2019, I was in the twenty second year of running a yoga center that employed about 16 staff members and served several hundred students per week. I was also the education director and president of the board of a nonprofit yoga academy, housed in the center’s...
info_outline
3 Steps to Healthy Boundaries
Swami Ji, the OG
A boundary is a limit or space between you and another person. It is a clear place where you begin and the other person ends, physically, mentally, energetically and spiritually. The purpose of setting a healthy boundary is, of course, to protect and take good care of yourself at all levels of being. Do you have unhealthy boundaries? Unhealthy boundaries involve a disregard for your own and/or others' values, wants, needs, and limits. Unhealthy boundaries can also lead to dysfunctional and potentially abusive relationships. I’m going to ask a few questions that will help you...
info_outline
Letting Go To Find Balance
Swami Ji, the OG
When we feel we are losing our balance we grab hold of something to feel secure and to prevent falling. This is a normal reaction to be able to maintain our physical balance and hopefully prevent pain. At that moment of uncertainty, that moment of being out of balance, we would think it strange if someone told us to “just let go.” But what about our mental balance? What are we grabbing hold of to feel secure? And are we holding on to hopefully prevent the mental and emotional pains? In the ancient text, the Yoga Sutras, within the very first few sutras we are told that it is possible...
info_outline
Still Body - Still Mind
Swami Ji, the OG
Sometimes we keep busy moving from one thing to another and believe this will keep us from thinking too much. However, we are only creating a distracted mind, the part that is overdeveloped to start with, and all this busy-ness keeps feeding this part of the mind that is processing sensory information and tries to make sense of the world. We need to develop the part of the mind that connects us with our higher self. When we go to bed at night, we become still and gradually the mind slows down and we fall asleep. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to slow down the mind at any point during...
info_outline
5 Keys To Improve Discipline
Swami Ji, the OG
When you think or hear about the word discipline what comes up for you? “Oh, I wish I had more of it,” or “I don’t have time for discipline,” or even “did I do something wrong?” The last implying that the word discipline is a form of punishment. Today we are going to discuss our misperceptions about discipline, its importance, and how we can improve our discipline to be more successful in our lives. Let’s start with the dictionary definitions. 1) the practice of training people to obey rules using punishment to correct disobedience or 2) a branch of knowledge,...
info_outline
From Change Comes Growth
Swami Ji, the OG
Today I will discuss the inevitability of change, why we find it difficult, how change and growth go hand in hand, the importance of having goals, and to welcome change! WHEW! That’s a lot to think about! And all of those thoughts are also part of the mechanism that keeps us “stuck” where we are and resisting changes. It has often been said that the only constant is life is change! Yet most of us find it difficult to change, especially when it takes us away from our routine, our conditioned ways of thinking. In actuality we’ve been changing our whole lives! Some of the changes...
info_outline
Just Relax!
Swami Ji, the OG
Just relax! I’m sure someone has said this to you at some point in your life! As if the ability to relax is like flipping a switch and something so easy you can just do it spontaneously at any time. When we were growing up, did anyone ever teach us how to relax? Do you know how even now? From my experience teaching yoga since 1995 and practicing yoga since the early 1980’s, I know that relaxation can be difficult to achieve, and few people have a method that supports them to become deeply relaxed. Today this podcast will have a brief introduction to the practice that I’ve done and taught...
info_outline
What Is Resilience and Why Do You Need It?
Swami Ji, the OG
Some think of it as endurance, but when I think of endurance, I think it means the power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process without giving up. Or fortitude? Fortitude is courage in the face of pain or adversity. Indeed, both of these words can be a part of resilience, but don’t thoroughly encompass the whole concept. Resilience is the ability to bounce back quickly from difficult situations and actually thrive when faced with challenging circumstances! Some ways of thinking about resilience includes being tough, quick to recover, buoyant, irrepressible, adaptable, flexible and...
info_outlineToday we are going to discuss the components of who you are, and then you will be guided through a short meditation. Feel free to listen to the discussion portion, but then stop the recording before doing the meditation if you are not in a location where you can sit quietly and still with the eyes closed.
You may have heard the common definition of yoga is “union” and it comes from the Sanskrit word ‘yug’ meaning to yoke.
If we think about how buffalo are yoked together or horses or sled dogs are joined together, the purpose of yoking is to unite multiple forces to create more power.
In yoga, we become more powerful when we understand, and yoke together, the different dimensions of our being known as the koshas. Koshas are the different aspects of who we are and of what we are composed. These are physical, energetic, the mind that links us to the world around us, the mind that is intuitive and wise, able to witness the world and our patterns, and lastly, the spiritual. These aspects, dimensions, or layers of our being have differing levels of awareness from the most gross, the physical, to the most subtle, the spiritual.
Let’s start with the physical aspect since this is the part of us that captures the most of our awareness. It’s called the annamaya kosha.
- Anna = food
- Food sheath – we become what we eat
It is the vehicle for our expression and interaction in the physical world, and it occupies about 75% of our awareness.
All of the koshas interact with each other. They are not separate entities. You are like a cake that is made of eggs, flour, sugar, chocolate, etc. But once the cake is made, those components can no longer be separate. In the same way, your physical health and balance ripples through the higher koshas. It affects your sense of vitality and mental peace. If you are in pain or have an illness that distracts you from the subtle aspects of your being, you must first address that. In yoga this is one of the reasons we do asanas, the physical practices.
Less gross than the physical is the energetic body. This is called pranamaya kosha.
- Prana = energy
This kosha is a part of the vast energy of the universe, and it energizes all of the koshas. You have bones and muscles as part of the physical but it’s the energy that allows you to walk or run. Pranamaya kosha is vital for all of the functions of humans.
Although this aspect occupies perhaps only 2% of our awareness, it permeates the entire entity that is you. Grossly the breath is a critical part but then how aware are you even of your breath yet alone more subtle manifestations. However, when the energy becomes disturbed or blocked, illness and disease may result.
It is necessary to become more aware of and control the energy to access the higher states of being.
Next, we move to the mind and how it manifests in two primary levels.
- Man, mana or manas = mind
- Mental sheath
We talk about this aspect of the mind as the lower mind, but perhaps we should consider calling it the worldly mind. It is responsible for the thoughts that relate to the day-to-day activities of life, as well as managing the senses.
It occupies about 20% of our awareness, and it pervades all the other koshas. Every Individual cell has its own intelligence. As you know, mental states influence your sense of health and vitality (think of what happens to you when you receive unexpected, good or bad news).
However, excessive mental chatter inhibits our ability to access higher koshas by keeping our awareness externalized on the world around us, or engages with thoughts about the past or future, rarely being in the present moment.
The more subtle aspect of the mind is called the “higher mind” but might be better referred to as the knowing mind.
- Vigyana = special knowledge
- Intuitive sheath
It is here that you can access intuition, wisdom, and higher knowledge-that sense of knowing-to see without judgement.
The average person may connect awareness at best about 2% of the time. This is because it is much more subtle than the chatterbox mind. To access this more fully, you must work with the other three koshas-sort of clearing the way! Many of the more subtle practices in yoga such as breathing, deep relaxation and meditation practices are designed to enhance awareness of this aspect of your being.
Like the intuitive, wisdom mine, the most subtle kosha-the spiritual aspect can only be accessed by developing the awareness of the previous four.
- Ananda = bliss
- Blissful sheath
At this deeply subtle level of consciousness, you can experience perfection and bliss that is beyond normal experience. It is at this level where the most intimate contact with our true nature occurs. It is at this point that there is an understanding of being part of a bigger whole spiritually.
But remember, first we must develop optimal health and awareness of the other koshas.
Now I will guide you through a short meditation practice to begin this process.
PRACTICE
- Settling into a comfortable and still position through body awareness.
- Shifting to awareness of the breath and movement of energy in the body.
- Becoming aware of senses and thoughts.
- Witnessing.
- Finish