Yoga In Everyday Life: The Sutras For Daily Living
According to many faiths, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, the universe began, from pure silence, with a single sound. For some faiths, this sound was the name of God but for others, including Hinduism, this sound was "Om". This sacred vibration that heralded the source of all life and creation was followed by a cacophony of noise and excitement. Within the noise though, there is still that underlying sacred sound and ultimately, silence.
The art of yoga is to quieten the cacophony that exists both around us and within us. As a 500-hour yoga teacher, I have studied the Yoga Sutra according to Patanjali, as have most - if not all - teachers. Common belief has it that these short verses, ultimately a guide to enlightenment, were compiled in around 350 CE.
Yogas-citta-vrtti-nirodhah translates as "Yoga is the restriction of the fluctuations of consciousness".
More than ever, the noise around and within us is driven by a 24-hour news cycle, constant connectivity to traditional and social media, and an overwhelming number of societal dramas and problems that can weigh on our collective and individual conscience. In the face of relentless news of climate change, natural disasters, drought, floods, poverty and injustice, we can become exhausted and feel powerless to make a difference. This is not true, though. Through individual actions, we throw a pebble into the universal waters that ripples across the surface. We inspire and motivate the people around us who then motivate a wider group, until there is broader awareness and action.
I refer to yoga as a practice, and in a sense the act of attending a yoga class to practice the asanas (poses) is a practice for how to live as an individual, but also how to live in the world. As with any practice, yoga requires dedicated practice (abhyasa) though this is tempered with an ability to commit without expecting or judging the results (vairagya).
Patanjali gave guidelines as to how to live as a conscientious and dedicated individual, but ultimately to recognise we exist within a collective consciousness. There is no true divide between any of us and any other living thing in the universe. He advised "satkara", a true belief in what you're doing, along with "adara", finding enjoyment in what you're doing.
To this end, your yoga class and your yoga practice requires adherence to the ancient yoga sutras in that you must be dedicated, regardless of the expectations and results, and that you must believe in the value of what you're doing, while also finding enjoyment in it.
Even though, superficially, yoga can appear to be just another offering at your local gym or a set of gymnastic exercises in overheated rooms filled with enthusiastic Lycra-clad acrobats, it is not purely a movement class. The poses, the sequences they are practiced in, and the intention in making each shape with our bodies and discovering how it feels in our body and mind as we do so has ancient roots. As we transition from a crow into a goddess, from a downward facing dog into a triangle then a half-moon, we discover the ease of moving in and out of different entities without losing our ability to self-observe, or to feel grounded. This is the essence of compassion. Not pity at all, but the ability to see and experience life through the eyes, or shoes, of others.
Patanjali teaches "asevita", or the commitment to approaching life with a sense of service. How can our everyday actions contribute to being of service to the people we come into contact with, the people we know and love, the work that we do, the land that we live on, the creatures on that land?
These questions are timeless. To be of service is not to sacrifice ourselves at all. Without our optimal health, contentment and safety, we are not able to be of service to others. To this end, the physical yoga practice is a commitment to being strong, agile, balanced and physically well enough to care for ourselves and to be of service to our fullest ability.
The teachings of yoga, which boil down to every living creature and thing being connected and from one source, are not religious nor culturally unique. They don’t invite some people and exclude others. Whoever we are, wherever we are, we can practice yoga via some means - it may be through selfless service to others, daily mantras and chants, physical poses or purely mindful breathing exercises (pranayama).
From that silence came a sacred sound, followed by a cacophony. Through yoga, we seek to connect back to the sacred sound. This is through compassion, dedicated practice, being of service and gratitude for the opportunity to contribute to this cacophonous, wonderful, endlessly curious world that we live in. Through individual practice, we connect to an ancient practice that unites all living beings. Om, Waheguru*.
*Waheguru translates as “teacher” or “remover of darkness”. In yoga, the use of the word typically means, “The teacher in me acknowledges the teacher in you”