Almost Forgot to Post This One...

Reading Reflection

"~Kriya-yoga, the path of action, consists of self-discipline, study, and dedication to the Lord.

~[The yoga of action] is for bringing about samadhi and for weakening the afflictions [to yoga].

~The impediments [to samadhi] are nescience, ego, desire, aversion, and clinging to life.

~Ignorance is the breeding ground of the other klesas, whether they are in a dormant, weak, intermittent, or fully activated state.

~Ignorance is the notion that takes the self, which is joyful, pure, and eternal, to be the nonself, which is painful, unclean, and temporary.

~Ego is [to consider] the nature of the seer and the nature of the instrumental power if seeing to be the same thing.

~Attachment stems from [experiences] of happiness.

~Aversion stems from [experiences] of pain.

~[The tendency of] clinging to life affects even the wise; it is an inherent tendency."

As we discussed in class, ignorance, ego, and all of the others each prove to have their own way of disrupting yoga thinking and the disciplined practice of it. I like how it states that ignorance is the "breeding ground" of the others, since ignorance, in my opinion, does cause a lot of bad things within people and throughout the world. If you continue to not see the truth or refuse to recognize it when it presents itself to you, you're inner self will be the one to suffer for it. I like that it considers this state of ignorant nonself to be temporary, however. It seems to hint that ignorance is luckily something that won't last as long as you're willing to rid yourself of it.

There are a lot of things in life that have to do with ignorance, ego, attachment, and aversion. It's very easy to get really attached to things and to want to desperately avoid other things. Sometimes you get too attached to the Internet, the TV, a friend, food, etc. Being around certain things or people make you really happy, and it's only human nature to want to be happy, but then problems develop when you start depending on that thing or person too much for your happiness, and then it negatively affects other parts of your life or hurts you when you're deprived of whatever you're clinging to. You're losing self-reliance, and forgetting to focus inward and simply find happiness in yourself. The same kind of goes for aversion, except you're running away from the things you find too painful or scary (physically, emotionally, mentally) instead of finding the inner courage to face it head on and become stronger and more securely focused inside.

I like what Josh said about clinging to life and ignoring everything and everybody else in your life in an attempt at self-preservation. I'm not sure there's much more I can add to that perspective other than I agree with what he said in his take on what it could also mean.

Overall, these are all very human tendencies, which is why they're so hard to fight and control. I definitely don't have complete control over any of them, especially attachment and aversion. They're all things that only you yourself can cause. It's during times like these when you really can be your own worst enemy. I've been hard working to fix them lately as I've noticed them. There have been times in the past where my attachments have ended up only hurting me and, in a sense, damaging my inner self that I work so hard to take care of and build up into something that I can love and respect, which is hard enough on its own. But I'll keep trying, and yoga is definitely helping me with that mindset.

Outside of Class

So far everything has been pretty much the same outside of class. There's been a week or two where I feel a little stiff and sore because this yoga class and the other one made me work harder than usual, and then there's been weeks where I feel pretty fantastic afterwards. I think sitting up straighter is starting to become more natural for me.

I didn't really much of a chance to do any yoga over the weekend since I had a project and had to study for an exam, but I stretched and did some of the simpler ones late Sunday morning, since I woke up late. I've been having some trouble lately going to sleep at a good time. I've had sleeping problems for a good while, and I have to actively try to keep a consistent schedule. I take meds for it but they don't always get the job done so that's when I have to resort to other tactics of getting some sleep. Lately it has reminded me of yoga, relaxing, and the sutras that talk about sleep. Sleep can be good or bad for you, and obviously I imagine that not getting enough sleep or sleeping restlessly isn't helping me at all, and it just makes me tired and unfocused during the day. Trying some simple yoga poses that help me relax and using the lavender-scented pillow at the end seem to help, though the important part is focusing on relaxing and not getting distracted by stray thoughts, or my laptop or phone, which is much easier said than done.

It's been interesting how much yoga has affected me in little ways over these past few weeks, like with with my posture, trying to relax from stress or lack of sleep, feeling a little more limber, and other things. I'm looking forward to seeing how this little bits of progress develop over the semester.