Reflective Asana & Pranayama (4) Class Discussion
Vrittis
The mind is always active. Yoga has practices to still and focus that activity (yoga citta vrtta nirodha, Sutra I, 2). In Iyengar yoga, and hatha yoga in general, the body and mind are prepared through asana and pranayama. Buddhist practice, by contrast, contains less focus on preparation of the body, and more on the practices of meditative concentration and insight.
Because of the action of the vrttis, even when perception is stilled, imagination/delusion, and memory can fill the mind.
One term used for the content of the mind is pratyaya. Centering techniques help reduce dispersion and the “monkey mind,” making the pratyaya more restful and focused.
In yoga practice the mind can be directed to instructions, body movement and alignment, inner movement of energy (prana). In sitting, three common techniques are touch (mudra, body alignment), resonance (e.g., OM, chanting, mantra), and the breath. Yoga breath practice in Savasana and sitting or supine Ujayyi I, but yoga diverges in its extensive practices of manipulating and controlling breath.
Many historically-known pranayama techniques are rarely practiced, and never by beginners. There are some contraindications for the more advanced practices and all but the most basic practices of breath awareness can be approached (with a teacher) in safety by most practitioners.
Focusing and the mind: Much yoga experience, and recent scientific research on meditators, suggest that brain activity can be modified by practice. See the work by University of Wisconsin researcher Richard J. Davidson, with co-author Sharon Begley: The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live–and How You Can Change Them. New York: Hudson (Penguin), 2011.
Both yoga experience and scientific research hold out the hope that continued can not only refine the body but refine the personality. Over the course of a lifetime of practice, the body will change in its capability, but the ”personality” (however we understand it) can change as well. Both physical and mental/spiritual practice can become more refined, becoming more sattvic.
A senior yoga teacher told me that Mr. Iyengar (now in his mid-90’s) described his practice as having become more sattvic with the years. Those who have seen his practice and teaching in recent years have told of this merging of tapas (zeal, determination) and sattva (clarity, lightness), even as the rajasic practice of his younger years has changed. This can be the model of practice for all of us — long-term changes, such as those due to aging, or shorter-term changes based on illness or transitory factors, may make a change in practice necessary, but that practice can nevertheless be done with determination, zeal, and consistency. Geeta Iyengar once said, reflecting on physical limitations: “When you can’t do asana, do pranayama!” Along the way of a life-time practice the asanas may change, and we may need greater or lesser support in the postures, but there are asanas for every condition. Rhetorically, when you can’t do asana for some reasons, there are other practices such as pranayama you can do.
Discussion: Tapas and Rajas
Rajas is one of the three gunas, or elements in classical yoga theory (derived from Sankyha philosophy). It is the element of action, motion, energy (positively), but also . It is contrasted with sattva (lightness, clarity, peacefulness) and tamas (the earth element, inertia).
Asana is often pursued with rajas, particularly in the early stages of acquiring a new posture, but may become more peaceful (sattvic) with more practice. Mr. Iyengar calls this “repose in the pose,” even though the posture must often be acquired through sweat and what Geeta Iyengar calls “donkey work.”
Tapas is one of the five Niyamas (the 2nd limb of classical yoga) and refers to such notions as zeal, determination, will, determination. We often associate tapas with the high energy of rajas, but that zeal and determination can also apply to sattvic performance of asana, pranayama and even meditation. Tapas is determination and zeal, and it can be manifested in both rajasic and sattvic activity. (That is, you can pursue asana with tapas and rajas, through the development is to unit tapas and sattva. Meditation is not pursued well with rajas (too much adrenaline), but the continued practice implied by tapas is vital. For both asana and pranayama (and meditation), tamas is the groundedness of the earth element. The practice needs the groundedness of tamas, but too much tamas makes the practice lethargic.