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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The mind is always active.\u00a0 Yoga has practices to still and focus that activity (yoga citta vrtta nirodha<\/em>, Sutra I, 2).\u00a0 In Iyengar yoga, and hatha yoga in general, the body and mind are prepared through asana and pranayama.\u00a0 Buddhist practice, by contrast, contains less focus on preparation of the body, and more on the practices of meditative concentration and insight.<\/span><\/p>\n Because of the action of the vrttis, even when perception is stilled, imagination\/delusion, and memory can fill the mind.<\/span><\/p>\n One term used for the content of the mind is pratyaya<\/em>.\u00a0 Centering techniques help reduce dispersion and the \u201cmonkey mind,\u201d making the pratyaya<\/em> more restful and focused.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In yoga practice the mind can be directed to instructions, body movement and alignment, inner movement of energy (prana<\/em>).\u00a0 In sitting, three common techniques are touch (mudra, body alignment), resonance (e.g., OM, chanting, mantra), and the breath.\u00a0 Yoga breath practice in Savasana and sitting or supine Ujayyi I, but yoga diverges in its extensive practices of manipulating and controlling breath.<\/span><\/p>\n Many historically-known pranayama techniques are rarely practiced, and never by beginners.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Focusing and the mind: Much yoga experience, and recent scientific research on meditators, suggest that brain activity can be modified by practice.\u00a0 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<\/em>.\u00a0 New York: Hudson (Penguin), 2011.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Both yoga experience and scientific research hold out the hope that continued can not only refine the body but refine the personality.\u00a0 Over the course of a lifetime of practice, the body will change in its capability, but the \u201dpersonality\u201d (however we understand it) can change as well.\u00a0 Both physical and mental\/spiritual practice can become more refined, becoming more sattvic<\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0A senior yoga teacher told me that Mr. Iyengar (now in his mid-90\u2019s) described his practice as having become more sattvic<\/em> with the years.\u00a0 Those who have seen his practice and teaching in recent years have told of this merging of tapas<\/em> (zeal, determination) and sattva<\/em> (clarity, lightness), even as the rajasic<\/em> practice of his younger years has changed.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Geeta Iyengar once said, reflecting on physical limitations: “When you can’t do asana, do pranayama!”\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Rhetorically, when you can’t do asana for some reasons, there are other practices such as pranayama you can do. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Discussion: Tapas and Rajas<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Rajas is one of the three gunas, or elements in classical yoga theory (derived from Sankyha philosophy).\u00a0 It is the element of action, motion, energy (positively), but also .\u00a0 It is contrasted with sattva (lightness, clarity, peacefulness) and tamas (the earth element, inertia).<\/span><\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 Mr. Iyengar calls this \u201crepose in the pose,\u201d even though the posture must often be acquired through sweat and what Geeta Iyengar calls \u201cdonkey work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Tapas is one of the five Niyamas (the 2nd<\/sup> limb of classical yoga) and refers to such notions as zeal, determination, will, determination.\u00a0 We often associate tapas with the high energy of rajas, but that zeal and determination\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 can also apply to sattvic performance of asana, pranayama and even meditation.\u00a0 Tapas is determination and zeal, and it can be manifested in both rajasic and sattvic activity.\u00a0 (That is, you can pursue asana with tapas and rajas, through the development is to\u00a0 unit tapas and sattva.\u00a0 Meditation is not pursued well with rajas (too much adrenaline), but the continued practice implied by tapas is vital.\u00a0 For both\u00a0 asana and pranayama (and meditation), tamas is the groundedness of the earth element.\u00a0 The practice needs the groundedness of tamas, but too much tamas makes the practice lethargic.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reflective Asana & Pranayama (4) Class Discussion Vrittis \u00a0 The mind is always active.\u00a0 Yoga has practices to still and focus that activity (yoga citta vrtta nirodha, Sutra I, 2).\u00a0 In Iyengar yoga, and hatha yoga in … Continue reading
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