Thursday 6.30p Intro — Week 6 (April 9, 2009)

Focus: Continue to review and refine hip opening from Week 4: Virabhadrasana II, Trikonasana, and Parsvakonasana to open the right hip. Lack of hip opening often masquerades as hamstring stiffness. Add a couple of poses from Week 5 and work more on arm work with Rope 1 for Sarvangasana.

Note new poses for this week are in bold face.

Discussion: Patanjali Yoga Sutra I.2, What is Yoga?
The entire purpose of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is to provide a practical guide to alleviate suffering. Pain, injury, disability — these are just the most salient features of a life characterized by our identification with an unsteady, fluctuating consciousness.

The term citta (consciousness) embraces a wider concept than the more narrowly defined Western interpretation of mind. Yoga treats the mind as a function of consciousness. According to B.K.S. Iyengar, citta is like a box that includes manas, which refers to the perceiver of sensations, as well as the buddhi, or intellect, which is the faculty of discrimination, and the ahamkara, the ego. The brain is the part of the mind that perceives the world, and acts on behalf of the mind.

To alleviate suffering, yoga emphasizes, above all, first hand “subjective” knowledge. It is knowledge based on skilled experience, as opposed to “objective” knowledge gathered from sacred texts and the testimony of others.

Yoga, as defined in Patanjali Yoga Sutra I.2, is the culmination of a highly intense practice that few persons reach: samadhi, or enlightenment, wherein the consciousness is left in a completely undisturbed state of silence. Everything else is not yoga:

PYS I.2 Yogah - citta - vritti - nirodhah
Yoga - consciousness - movements - cessation
Yoga is the cessation of the movements of consciousness.

Yoga is the restraint of the fluctuations of consciousness... Yoga shows ways of understanding the functionings of the mind and helps quiet their movements, leading towards the undisturbed state of silence which dwells in the very seat of consciousness.

PYS I.3 Then the seer dwells in his own state.

PYS I.4 At other times the seer appears to identify with the movements in the consciousness.

Vritti nirodha
According to Patanjali, in the absence of samadhi, all other states of consciousness are considered a modification, a vritti — an alteration of one’s true nature. Other translations of vritti (root: “to whirl”) besides movement, include agitation, fluctuation, activity, or oscillation. Each of these translations, when used in a specific context, defines a distinct aspect of what a vritti is: While the colloquial use of “agitation” expresses a specifically negative, disturbing, aspect of movement, the more abstract term “fluctuation”, indicates merely a change. Although it suggests less suffering, it is still destabilizing.

Perhaps the most difficult term to translate in Yoga Sutra I.2 is nirodha, the word used to describe the negation of the vrittis. It has been variously called control, restraint, dissolution, restriction, suppression, and resolution. When the vrttis are restrained, they cease to disturb the consciousness.


Gunas and vritti nirodha
Nirodha relies upon an understanding of how the process of involution occurs according to Samkhya philosophy. Commentator Vyasa describes the three functions of consciousness — cognition, volition and stability — which are produced by the gunas: sattva is illumination, rajas is characterized by action and pain, and tamas is distinguished by inertia and feebleness. The gunas, the very “bases of substantive matter,” may be compared to strands of multicolored rope that, when woven together, form the “cord” of prakrti, matter, that tethers the soul to the body, making it appear that the soul itself, not the body, undergoes change. The Bhagavad Gita states that the soul is bound to the body by sattvic happiness and knowledge; by the rajasic fruits of work; and by tamasic ignorance, laziness, and excessive sleep.

The gunas, the constituents of matter, constantly mutate and undergo change; they are not permanent. Only the soul is permanent. The yogin seeks to liberate himself from the tyranny of the gunas so that he may experience equanimity. Only when the yogin reaches the highest level of samadhi, do the gunas cease to evolve any further and are absorbed, or dissolved, back into their respective causes, thus freeing the yogin from the bonds of physical nature (described by Patanjali in Yoga Sutras IV.32-34). Vyasa (VB II.27) likens their dissolution to crumbling boulders rolling down a hill.

When the gunas cease to evolve, the vrttis that they produce will cease their waxing and waning. However, the more we try to directly suppress the vrttis, the more we become attached to them, as when we challenge ourselves “to not think of pink elephants.” How is it possible for the mind to govern itself?

Consistent with Patanjali, B.K.S. Iyengar’s method is indirect: “by the body, for the mind.” By focusing the wandering citta on the intricacies of asana, we indirectly restrain the citta and guide it towards vritti nirodha. That’s why in his translation of Yoga Sutra II.46 defining asana, he has acknowledged vritti nirodha with “steadiness in intelligence” as well as “firmness in body.”


Asana — awakening the intelligence with alignment
The Iyengar method of yoga is not entirely transparent. B.K.S. Iyengar has developed a “user friendly interface” to make it attractive for the beginner. Although working to perfect an asana is physical work, it is only a means to an end. The deeper we immerse ourselves in asana practice, the less we categorize it as physical. Asana becomes a device for honing the intellect and refining its quality, sattvic intelligence. Without awakening this intelligence, which lies dormant in each and every practitioner, how could the perfection in asana result in the end of duality (PYS II.48)?

Alignment is the linchpin of B.K.S. Iyengar’s method of practice. Alignment coordinates perception and intelligent action to bring “steadiness in intelligence.” We often conceive of alignment in the gross sense, as “the uniform alignment of bones, joints and soft tissues within the frame of each asana.” Amidst the difficulties of practice, every so often we get a glimpse of understanding, a correlation that explains the fruit of our actions: “If I move my leg this way, my back stops hurting and I can breathe more easily. My head feels clearer, less clogged. My brain feels less confused.” The result is greater stability and equanimity. However improved, the acts of observing, evaluating, and correcting are still dualistic. Until attaining samadhi, we are swayed by the opposites of rajasic action and tamasic inertia, causing the citta vrttis.


Asana — aligning the body with the Self
But B.K.S. Iyengar conceives of alignment in a more subtle way. The buddhi, the intellect and the most sattvic aspect of the citta, has the power to discriminate. It redirects citta, away from being colored by the vrttis of the external world, towards the non-fluctuating Seer, or the soul, for guidance. The yogin transcends duality when he takes refuge in the soul. As the Bhagavad Gita proclaims: “ “with intelligence - yoked (buddhi-yuktas) (to the Self), one frees oneself of (the duality of) good and bad deeds... Yoga is skill in action.” (BG II.50)

Only in samadhi can the yogin distinguish between the sattva buddhi (refined illuminative intelligence) and the Seer (PYS III.36). B.K.S. Iyengar writes, “Spiritual intelligence [viveka jnanam], which is true wisdom, dawns [in samadhi] only when discrimination ends. It does not function in duality. It perceives only oneness.” (PYS I.7; II.26; III.55) Describing this oneness, B.K.S. Iyengar has said that the Self exists in every cell: “Each and every fiber, each and every cell, each and every capillary has to be connected to the Self. Alignment in the asanas means alignment of the Self with the body, and the body with the Self. So, when the Self engulfs the entire body, without neglecting one part, it is alignment.”


Asana — sattvic practice
Up until that time, we have to study the effects of the gunas, else we will unknowingly remain subject to their influence. Our initial aim is to make all of our actions sattvic, illuminated and intelligent. But sometimes we must employ rajas, and even tamas, in the service of sattva.

For example, in Virabhadrasana II, the legs must be firm and stable, a tamasic quality, while also lifting, or rajasic. (If they were too rajasic, they would be consistently moving, jumping up and down.) Because we are using the buddhi to discriminate, the work is neither mindless nor taxing. It should “feel right” without aggressively overworking, becoming too rajasic. But, if the pelvis and trunk are tamasic, and just collapse onto the right leg, the right knee will take the load, and become very heavy and dull, or tamasic, along with the mind. Therefore, the pelvis must strongly lift up, a rajasic action, in order to bring lightness and mobility, or sattva, into the right hip joint. This results in greater clarity, making the mind sattvic.

Unless and until sattvic action permeates the entire asana, the disturbing vrttis will continue to impose on the consciousness. When completely sattvic, the consciousness becomes benevolent, as B.K.S. Iyengar describes the results of perfection of asana in Yoga Sutra II.46.


Invocation in Swastikasana

1. Tadasana/Samasthiti

2. Rope 1
a. Roll upper arms out to open shoulders and further facilitate Urdhva Hastasana.

3. Tadasana (Urdhva Baddhanguliyasana)
a. Omitted for lack of time.

4. Tadasana (Paschima Baddha Hasta arms)
a. Roll open shoulders to prepare for Sarvangasana. When this is mastered, can introduce Paschima Namaskarasana.

5. Tadasana (Gomukhasana arms)

6. Virabhadrasana II
a. Swap first prior to Trikonasana to get freedom in hips without the challenge of stiff hamstrings.
b. Left heel at the Rope Wall.

7. Utthita Trikonasana
a. Left heel at the Rope Wall, holding the lower wall rope as above, move the right outer thigh towards the wall to lengthen the right leg.
b. To straighten the knee, lift both the kneecap and the back thigh up, away from the knee as in Tadasana, to make the knee light.

9. Utthita Parsvakonasana
a. Left heel at the Rope Wall, holding the lower wall rope as in Virabhadrasana II.
b. Repeat the actions as above, the sit the buttock down to take the right hand to the floor.

10. Virabhadrasana I
a. With Urdhva Hastasana arms, press wrists into Upper Wall Rope to lift the pubic plate and sternum.

11. Utkatasana

12. Parsvottanasana (hands on chair seat, head on brick on chair seat)
a. Pull right hip back, left hip forward.

13. Chair Kurmasana
a. Preparation for Adho Mukha Svanasana hip movement.
b. Thighs on chair seat, bend forward from the hips.

14. Adho Mukha Svanasana
a. Hands turned out 90° at wall. Don’t “let the consciousness leak out” from beneath the forefinger knuckle. Press it down then stretch the inner armpit towards the hip.

15. Baddha Hasta Uttanasana
a. Substitute for Uttanasana (concave back feet apart and feet together)
b. Omitted for lack of time. Will do next week.

16. Padangusthasana
a. Pull belt looped around feet to get concave back.
b. Omitted for lack of time. Will do next week.

17. Sarvangasana Cycle
a. Wall Ekapada Sarvangasana
Get more on top of the shoulders and walk the feet up the wall. With the left foot on the wall, straighten the right leg vertically towards the ceiling. Then repeat on the other side.

b. Salamba Sarvangasana
Straighten both legs.

18. Forward Extensions
a. Paschimottanasana (forehead on chair seat) substituted for Paschimottanasana to provide more support and rest. Legs wide apart in Dandasana for greater hip mobility, holding the chair arms to keep the chest open, rest the forehead on the chair seat.

19. Savasana
a. Back chest on blanket folded in half, trifold blanket beneath head.