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Iyengar Certified
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The Philosophy of Yoga
At Susquehanna Yoga, we believe that
understanding and studying the ancient philosophy behind the practice of
Yoga helps our students get the most benefit out of their class time. For
this reason, we include the ‘Philosophy of Yoga’ Lessons in
sequential order in our newsletter. All lessons are also
archived for reference and are
available on this page.
Yoga is prescriptive - IF you do this, then that will happen. Yoga teachers sometimes describe to their students how certain poses should
feel, or what happens to their body in a particular posture. But students
must learn to listen to their own body and find their own way.
Classic Yoga instruction takes out the descriptive and is solely
prescriptive, and is therefore the most direct route to the center.
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The Philosophy of Yoga (Yoga
Sutra 1.37)
Vitaraga Visayam Va Cittam
Vita – devoid of, free from
Raga – desire, passion, love,
affection
Va – or
Cittam – consciousness
By contemplating on enlightened
sages who are free from desires
and attachments, calm and tranquil,
or by contemplating divine objects.
Vyasa, Suka, Sankara, Ramanuja,
Madhva, Vallabha, Caitanya, Sri
Aurobindo, Ramana Maharsi and Sri
Ramakrsna, are examples of men of
illumination. If the
student reflects on the serene, pure
state of such divine persons and
emulates their practices, he gains
confidence, attains
stability and develops a
desire-less state of mind.
In the same way, one can also
contemplate each stage of an asana
or each movement of breath in order
to bring the mind to a state of
desirelessness. If
consciousness is kept free from
desire, it becomes pure.
Mere withdrawal from the world does
not in itself achieve this aim!
Paraphrased from:
Light on the Yoga Sutras of
Pantanjali
B.K.S Iyengar
Buddha, Gandhi and Jesus are
also a few well known examples of
men of illumination. In
order for a student to be able to
free their mind from the attachments
to physical and mental desires, the
student may find it necessary to
reflect or conceive a similar
serenity and purity that we believe
men of illumination have.
For instance, one may ask heart-felt
forgiveness for what one perceives
as wrong or impure in ones life and
character. And by asking God to
forgive us time and time again
one eventually learns to forgive
one-self and gain freedom from
this particular attachment. So, we
can thus visualize how
contemplating on enlightened persons
who are able to free themselves from
conscious emotions such as desire,
lust, greed, can enable us to
achieve the same state of mind as
described in this sutra.
Merely, emptying or stilling
ones mind may help one to
forget their perceived impurities
and free the mind of such emotions
for moments at a time, but in order
to reach a sustained level of
illumination a sadaka must
make pure his emotional heart
to stop the fluctuations it causes
in the mind. Our thoughts must
be pure “free of foreign matter,
contamination, or corruption”
if we hope to release our
self-realized soul from the
grasp of the physical and mental
cage placed upon it.
To help achieve this release,
yoga teaches us
non-attachment and how this
state will further ones practice,
giving strength and stability to the
postures and serenity to our breath.
With this in mind, we then move
forward in our practice of yoga
taking along with us the serenity
and purity to the union of
the soul with the infinite.
In my own practice I have found that
self acceptance of my perceived
attachments has relinquished my
emotional heart from many of the
influences or fluctuations that my
physical mind and body send it, thus
not allowing the mind to see the
soul. Once a student of
yoga gets a glimpse of his or her
own soul then they may find it
unnecessary to visualize others of
enlightenment, realizing the
beauty within.
Tony Balcer
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Philosophy of Yoga Archives:
Invocation Chant
Yoga Sutra 1.13
Yoga Sutra 1.15
Yoga Sutra 1.16
Yoga Sutra 1.17
Yoga Sutra 1.18
Yoga Sutra 1.19
Yoga Sutra 1.21 & 1.22
Yoga Sutra 1.23 - 1.26
Yoga Sutra 1.27
Yoga Sutra 1.28
Yoga Sutra 1.29 & 1.30
Yoga Sutra 1.31
Yoga Sutra 1.33
Yoga Sutra 1.35 & 1.36
Yoga Sutra 1.37
Yoga Sutra 1.39
Yoga Sutra 1.40
Yoga Sutra 1.41 & 1.42
Yoga Sutra 1.43
Yoga Sutra 1.44
Yoga Sutra 1.45
Yoga Sutra 1.46
Current Yoga Sutra
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