Yoga for a Lifetime - Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 3:6

Yogena yogo jnatavyo
Yogo yogat pravartate
Yo prama tastu yogena
Sa yoga ramate ciram

Only through yoga, yoga is known, Only through yoga, yoga progresses, One who is patient with yoga, Bears the fruits for a long time.

I have always loved this chant. It is from Vyasa's fifth century commentary (the first that we know about) on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

The point of each of Patanjali’s sutras, is that it states a teaching in the most succinct way possible; with the guidance of your teacher, you extrapolate that sutra to uncover its depth of meaning and to apply it to your life-practice. Vyasa was one of those teachers and the above is from his commentary on Yoga Sutra 3:6, which reads:

tasya bhumisu viniyogah
Samyama (complete meditation) must be developed gradually

The essence of this sutra is that patience is required when one practices yoga. Yoga is a practice that benefits from slow and steady progress, commitment and the willingness to wait and see. One of the joys of yoga is how we simply begin where we are, however we find ourselves, and let whatever happens happen.

In fact, the strength of the path of yoga lies in part in its slowness; the lessons that you will learn on your mat are the lessons of a lifetime, not a few months. This is not a quick fix, a cure-all, a handy package that will pick you up, make you strong, calm you down and set you rolling; it is a gradual unfolding of awareness and understanding that will enrich your life and everything you do in your life. This is why yogis need not fear growing older, for there is always something new that will be learnt, a new view, a different way of being that changes, improves, teaches... it never stops; we never get 'there', we only learn how to learn from everything that comes to us in life.

Moreover, it is often the case that we are wrong about what we think we are doing when we start to practise yoga and where we think we are headed with it. I know scientists who have become yoga teachers, accountants who are training to be school-teachers, athletes whose main practice now is meditation and mothers who have become midwives, all of whom express surprise at where they have ended up at the same time as they acknowledge that where they are now is exactly where they feel they are supposed to be. Transformation is mysterious: you just don't know where you are going. Better to put your faith in your practice and let it guide you, rather than push it around, trying to make it look like you think it should.

The only thing that yoga asks of you is that you do it, and this is encapsulated in this sutra and in Vyasa's beautiful explanation of it. You can't read about it in a book; you can't have someone tell you about it; you can't dip in and out of it; if you want to be a yoga student and to discover all its riches, then you have to turn up, you have to do it (and remember that leaping about on a yoga mat was never the apogee of yoga practice that some yoga studios and students would have us believe - asana is the means, not the goal).

Yoga requires patience and teaches patience, it's wealth lies in the way its lessons open to us gradually, giving us time to acknowledge, understand and assimilate the things that we are learning, seeing and encompassing in our lives as we continue with our practice. You start where you are every single time you practice, with a beginner's mind and a humble heart and these techniques, handed down, refined and shared over generations, help you towards a healthier, more whole, more established and simple way of being.

Your practice is like the ripening of fruit over a summer, which happens quite naturally and in its own time. You are simply ripening over a lifetime.

Setting Boundaries

Setting boundaries will help you to preserve your energy for the people, events and things that are really important to you. They will help to move you away from a frantic life in which you have too much to do and too little time.

Our days can become a whirlwind of racing from one thing to another, finally collapsing in the evening/at the weekend with very little left to give the most important people in our lives, or the creativity that makes our hearts sing.

Boundaries are simply a way of making intentional decisions about what you let in and what you keep out of your life. They are a way or making sure that you save your energy for the tasks, people and creativity that you really want and need to do.

If you are clear about your boundaries, then it is easier to say a kind, but forthright no when someone asks you to do something that you don’t feel comfortable with. You won’t feel forced to say yes against your better judgement and end up wishing you’d hadn’t, ending up wasting your time, getting upset or frustrated because you could be spending that time doing something else.

If you are clear about your boundaries, then it is easier to take the time before answering a request to make sure that you give a genuine answer.

Try not to complicate things: boundaries are simply a way of managing your energy. Energy is limited. Use it wisely. No matter who we are, we only get the same 24 hour period in every single day. How are you spending yours?

And boundaries are very personal. Don’t explain your boundaries to anyone - how could they understand your reasons? And their approval is not required.

Boundaries will help you to understand and fulfil your own needs so that when you come to your job, or your friend, or life in general, you have plenty to give. You are no longer running on a permanently empty tank, racing to keep up with yourself, or waking up wishing you’d done something differently. Instead you become as calm and joyful and open and loving as it is possible for you to be.

It is not always easy. What you are addressing here is your very real need to be loved, to feel known and accepted. You might be the person who always says yes, the one who can always be relied upon to sort out problems, the one who always listens when people want to talk. Perhaps you are all three … in which case you are no doubt exhausted!

But you don’t need to make everyone love you. You are surrounded by people who love you. The ones who need you the most are not usually the ones who make the most noise about it.

So begin. Make a small one. Keep it quiet. Try it out. In a couple of weeks, make another. Be honest and stay true to yourself. The deeper work is self-compassion and you’ll be working on this for the rest of your days.

Sarah x

Motivation

We’re doing a challenge through January on my Facebook page: we have committed to do a certain yoga practice for the 31 days. Some have promised to begin or end their day with yoga, others to meditate every day, each person has made their own promise to themselves based on their needs or interest.

We are doing it because January is a tough time of the year for many people and this particular January there is a lot of bad news around with regard to the pandemic. This is a way for us to try to get through the month with as much grace, humour and kindness as possible, by doing yoga regularly.

We are holding each other accountable. We post when we have practised and we read about other people’s practice. Folks check in and communicate with each other. It’s a happy and supportive place to be this month.

I don’t fully understand why the simple act of coming together to do this helps us to stay true to the commitment that we have made. People are sharing that they wouldn’t have come to their mat (they were busy, exhausted, interrupted by a family member…) if it wasn’t for this challenge and therefore how grateful that they are to be taking part.

It is very motivating.

Perhaps motivation is the wrong word? Motivation comes and goes. Nobody is motivated all of the time. What is then that takes over and sees us coming to our mat even when we don’t feel like it?

Accountability to the group: we are social creatures and this is a friendly group. Others have shared their daily experience and this encourages us to do our bit, make our own contribution.

Faith. The Sanskrit word for this is Sraddha and we find it Yoga Sutra 1.20. Encapsulated here is the idea that when motivation is low, our faith in the practice of yoga helps us come to the mat. Most of us know what practising yoga gives us: peace, calm, a more comfortable way of living - that’s why we do it. When motivation is low, simple faith in yoga’s efficacy helps us to overcome lethargy and do a little of what helps.

Kindness. Everyone in the group has chosen their commitment with self-compassion in mind. They have asked themselves what will make them feel better this month and designed their practice with only that aim in mind. This makes the whole experience nurturing, positive and kind.

Flexibility. Yoga takes many forms: breathwork, asana, meditation, relaxation, mantra, etc. The commitment here is to come to your mat - how you practice will look different every day and rightly so. This means that you are working with your body, mind and emotions, not pushing through them to fulfil a goal.

Someone said they are enjoying the routine and I love that. The routine of self-care.

Someone else said that after their practice they could ‘go back and join the melee with a calm mind’ When we feel calmer and more whole, we are nicer people to be around and have more to give.

More words from the group: feeling grateful, feeling reflective, a lot of peace and stillness, glad of this incentive to come to my mat every day, probably wouldn’t have gone back this evening otherwise!

Fear is catching. The world has shown us that over the last 2 years. But so is peace. In an atmosphere of kindness and mutual support we are inspiring each other simply by sharing our own experiences of yoga. It’s a fine way to move through this darkest of months.

Sarah x