Titles Take Too Long to Think Up...

Reading Reflection

"~[The vrtti states of mind] are stilled by practice and dispassion.

~From these, practice is the effort to be fixed in concentrating the mind.

~Practice becomes firmly established when it has been cultivated uninterruptedly and with devotion over a prolonged period of time.

~Dispassion is the controlled consciousness of one who is without craving for sense objects, whether these are actually perceived, or described [in scripture].

~Higher than renunciation is indifference to the gunas [themselves]. This stems from perception of the purusa, soul."

Since going over the sections of sutras has been working really well so far in getting me to reflect on yoga and what it's trying to accomplish, I'll do it again this time. So, since we already know that yoga is intended to still these five changing states of mind, we now move on to learning how to go about stilling them through yoga.

One way, which is the most obvious one, is through practice. You have to become determined and devoted to practice yoga to receive its long-term benefits. Right now, I'm not practicing yoga as often as I probably should, but even then I'm starting to note some of the positive effects that yoga is starting to have on me. Like the sutra says, it's something to be "cultivated." Even if it's hard at first, you shouldn't give up, because you can only get better from there. There have been poses that have made me sweat and want to drop or kill someone (not exactly yoga-friendly thoughts going on during those kinds of brief moments...), but I've kept at it and felt better for it at the end. My worst problem that hinders continuous practice is my exceptional laziness when it comes to anything physical. Still have to work on that.

Dispassion is hit or miss for me depending on what the craving is. If we're talking about food or sweets, then I'm pretty good at controlling my desire unless I'm starving. I need to learn to control my desire for only unhealthy things when I get hungry, though. When it comes to things like my laptop, my phone, the internet, music, games, and other things like that, it's much harder to control myself, even when it's necessary for me to ignore them to get work done. I don't drink very often, or anything like it, unlike the Sergeant in How Yoga Works (I wonder if they'll delve into him trying to control his bad alcoholism). I like to think I'm actually pretty good at maintaining dispassion to most "sense objects", though I could be completely wrong, and I know I definitely have problems with simply focusing my thoughts when they're always all over the place, thinking about all kinds of things.

Outside of Class

As I mentioned above, I've noticed the beginnings of an actual physical effect from yoga. My back is starting to feel better than it did before (wasn't exactly taking good care it beforehand). It feels less stiff and more limber. Also, I'm able to pop my back now, something I was never able to do before! It might be considered a silly accomplishment, but I'm happy about it nonetheless.

Yay for life goals.

I think it has become kind of a mental thing for me, too. Since I'm starting to feel like and believe I'm becoming better at yoga, and just better physically, it's having double the effect on me. I know when you're working out it's important to believe you're becoming better and healthier alongside actually physically becoming healthier, since it'll have the psychological effect of motivating you to continue and making you more confident. Seeing and feeling the start of the positive effects is always a great feeling. I feel like that was part of Friday's message in How Yoga Works during one of her conversations with the Captain. How yoga helps has to do with the physical side of practicing it regularly, and then why yoga helps is a mental thing.

Also, people are jealous of my wonderful lavender eye pillow now. Just wanted to mention that. One person I showed it to almost fell asleep on my bed with it. I've used it a couple of times around bed time just to get it to help me relax.

I'm still working on sitting and standing straighter, since I'm just a habitual sloucher when I'm sitting in anything. My best friend came down to visit a few days ago, and she loves yoga and tries to keep it up every morning. We even did some poses together and compared what I've learned with what she has learned. She still despises downward-facing dog.

I still don't practice as often or for as long as I probably should since there have been days in a row where my classes are keeping me really busy, plus I'm lazy and get easily distracted. I've mostly stuck to some of the basic poses we've learned, such as the downward facing dog and several of the hamstring-centric poses (trying the tree pose is still proving difficult with my balance problems).