Around this same time, one of our students from Canada had written to us asking: “what do you do when your teacher is away?” and “how do you practice when left on your own?”

It seems that this is a question was on the minds of many people, as it was asked during our last conference with Guruji and Sharath the week before.  The answer was simple: You continue to practice as your teacher has taught you.  Yoga is a personal practice that when practiced correctly has positive effects on the whole of humanity.  Finding a teacher to guide and instruct is an essential component of the Path, as is being surrounded by a sangha (community) to help motivate and encourage each of us along the way.  However, there will be many times in our lives when we will find ourselves far from any teacher, and without a community of practitioners around us.  In fact, it may be the case that most of our lives we will practice alone, without the direct presence of a teacher.  This being the case, it is important to figure out some ways to keep our minds focused on our practices and to stay motivated so we can continue to grow.

One thing that  will help is to take a close look at the how and why we practice.  If we are truly practicing in a correct way, and for the right reasons, we cannot help but experience the positive effects of the practice in our daily lives.  The more self-awareness we can develop, the more we will observe the benefits of the practice, and we will find ourselves encouraged to continue making a strong effort in our daily practice.

It can also be helpful to find time once or twice a year to devote a period of time to just practicing and studying yoga.  This can be done by going on a specific “yoga retreat,” or by just taking some time off from the demands of your job and the obligations of daily life to focus on your practice and reconnecting with yourself and if possible, your teacher.  These periods of intense study and concentrated practice can help to revive your practice, create inspiration, and rekindling your passion for the practice of  yoga.

Sometimes students ask: “What should I practice and how can I progress while you are not here?”Sharath and Guruji have said: “practice what you’ve been taught, as you’ve been taught.”  When you practice the postures your teacher has given you with earnest devotion you will certainly “progress.”  In the modern world we tend to associate this notion of “progress” with the idea that “more is better” and we get caught up in the idea that if we are doing more it means we are getting better and “progressing.”

Contrarily, progress along the path of Yoga doesn’t amount to “more.”  We don’t progress by doing “more postures” or “more difficult postures” or “more practices” or “longer practices.”  Progress on the path of Yoga is determined by the internal condition of our mind and attitude.

When we can be completely satisfied with exactly what we have and who we are at any given moment then we are starting to walk along the path of santosha (contentment) the second niyama, and that is the sign of real progress.  We will be happy to practice less with more awareness, instead of more with less satisfaction.

.As Sharath reminded us in conference, doing advanced asana doesn’t mean you are a more “advanced practitioner.”  It doesn’t guarantee more “self-knowledge” or “enlightenment.”  A student practicing primary series can be learning more, and growing more by focusing on the internal form and starting to “still the fluctuations of the mind,” then a student who may be practicing an advanced series but who is still fixated on the external form without developing any kind of control over the mind.

The “inner asana” is what we must strive to perfect.  When we can humbly surrender to a practice, and commit ourselves to following one method and one teacher, this “inner asana” the “seat of God within” gets perfected.  Gratitude grows when we can accept what we have been given instead of always acting from that deeply ingrained pattern (samskara) of asking and wanting and taking more and more.  As Sri O.P Tiwari has reminded us time and time again, we should strive to be a “person of the needs, and not the wants.”      

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We have a student who comes to us intermittently.  He is an artist, and a yoga teacher, and has a loving free spirit.  After working through some strains and sprains, aches and pains, he asked us if his practice would always be this difficult.  He was referring to the many struggles he was having with discomfort in his body:  “Isn’t yoga supposed to be all about bliss?” he asked.  Physical suffering can be hard on us psychologically, and our motivation to keep up with the practice can decrease.

It is a great question though, “Isn’t yoga supposed to be all about bliss?”   I guess the simple answer is NO!  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out however.  We need only to observe the nature and the truth of our existence.  Pain comes, and pain goes.  Pleasure comes, and pleasure goes.  There is an arising and a passing away.  Yoga is the ability to keep our mind steady during the rise and fall, the ebb and flow of life, and the successfulness our practice shows up in our ability to deal with the changes, great and small, that manifest within us and around us in every moment.

The most difficult form of satya, or truthfulness, starts with our own self. One good question to ask of ourselves is this: “Am I being serious or sincere?” 

Our teacher Tiwariji encourages us to be sincere, as seriousness is an expression of the ego.   When I get “serious” about my practice, I push too hard, I tend to move out of a balanced state and into an ego-driven state, and I increase the potential for injury.  Yoga practice is difficult enough, without creating more obstacles with our ego.  Finding the balance beyond pain and pleasure, and creating steadiness of mind and body to help us move beyond the dualities of existence, is an essential part of our quest.  Searching for “bliss” results in a constant disappointment.  To crave bliss is really a craving for misery, as all sensations, pleasant or painful, are conditioned by our temporal existence, and so are always impermanent and changing

I am reminded of what my friend David Swenson says, “If at first you find this practice hard, don’t worry, it gets easier!  And if at first you find this practice easy, don’t worry, it gets harder!”  In my opinion, David is one of the great Ashtanga Yogis of our day, and what he said pretty much sums it up: Sometimes practice is hard, sometimes it is easy.  What is important is not to crave the easy, energetic, light, enjoyable practices, as this is a recipe for disappointment, but we must strive to keep our equanimity during both the pleasant practices, as well as the difficult ones.

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We had a new student came to our Mysore class this week to begin learning the wonderful practice of Ashtanga Yoga.  His wife practices with us, and so he was familiar with the practice and brought with him many pre-conceived ideas, expectations, and concerns about what a yoga practice should look like, and how long it needed to be.  He was worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the other students, and that he had to do it for over an hour every day. I think he was pleasantly surprised to find out that this practice “truthfully” can fit into his busy schedule and that it doesn’t have to be a long and laborious activity, and that when practiced with awareness it could add value to his life. 

This brings up a few questions though: Are there times when the practice truthfully doesn’t fit for us?  Are there times when the practice is too much for our day-to-day schedule?  Can we approach the demands of life, and the demands on our time in a truthful way and still make the effort to find the middle path between laziness and egoistic ambition?  I believe we can. 

Finding this middle ground is vital for us.  Our yoga practice should be something that creates more balance in our lives not further imbalance.  We must find ways to integrate our practice into our daily living without increasing the stress we already have.  Only in this way will the practice be maintained over the long term, and can we hope to find the true benefits of a yoga practice.  Patanjali says: “Sa tu dirghakala nairantarya satkarasevito drdhabhumih” – which means: “Only after a long time of continuous practice with sincerity will the benefits of yoga be achieved.”

This then must be our aim.  To be truthful with ourselves and our capacity each day not only when starting and integrating yoga into our lives, but also when sustaining the practices we have already established, and in doing so we will gain all he benefits that come from a daily practice of Ashtanga Yoga.

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This reminded me of what our teacher once taught us about impatience.  He said that impatience is a subtle form of violence or hostility towards oneself.  (Of course then he looked directly at me and said that if a student is impatient they have not understood the the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.  Busted again!)  So, for one more week lets keep with the Yamas and the Ahimsa theme.You see according to Patanjali only one eighth of this classical yoga path is asana, and in his book he speaks about asana in only 3 of 196 verses.  His emphasis makes it clear for all of us that in this practice of yoga there are some other limbs that we must attend to.

Whether it is on or off the mat, if we are “practicing impatience” in our lives we have omitted a first and vital step in our yoga process, and quite possibly our yoga progress.  In the Yoga Sutras the chief Yama (the first limb of ashtanga yoga) is Ahimsa.  Ahimsa is an action centered attitude of “non-harming” or “non-violence,” and it is a vital, but very difficult, practice.  It deals with our actions towards others as well as ourselves.  We must cultivate this practice in ourselves and radiate it out to others.  As always the mat becomes the great mirror, and if we are willing to look, it will reflect back to us our true progress on this path. 

Ultimately, this comes back to choice.  We must make the conscious choice to practice ahimsa:  to be gentle with ourselves, to approve of ourselves, to have patience with ourselves, and after taking action, we must leave the results to God.  Of course in this practice if the struggle of this daily existence overwhelms us…   you can always do what Sri K. Pattabhi Jois tells us to do: “You breath You!” OmBe Blessed!  Peace, Out.J 

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