What is your desire for your yoga practice?

Yoga is a paradox - it is both a practice and a state of being. As a practice, we enter yoga for a vast array of reasons.

Maybe we have an aching body, or we're stressed, or maybe we want to be able to "do" all of the advanced asanas?

What ever the reason, invariably, if you're practicing yoga with a contemplative attitude, you will gain ever deepening insights into the nature of yoga and of self.

You will have moments where you enter the bliss and experience yoga as a state of being.

As your commitment grows these moments of bliss occur more often.

It's like the proverbial carrot that leads the donkey along on its journey!

The manifestation of yoga as a living reality occurs in direct proportion to the strength and purity of your desire.

Purify your desires, distil them, and let the seed of pure desire sprout in your life.

You are your own master - believe it! 

An invitation

I invite you to look at yoga through the lens of my own 30 years of practice and personal experience. 

The following article is a meditation on the meaning of yoga.

It reveals an evolution of understanding and desire distilled from 30 years of effort (Tapas).

It represents a life's work of transcending physical, mental, and emotional conditionings (Samskaras) in order to attain the highest goal - the actualisation of yoga.

Click the Sound Cloud link below if you prefer to listen rather than read - it goes for about 16 minutes.

If you're a reader, read on...

30 Years of Yoga

I love practising yoga poses. 

Years ago, I was in a nasty car accident and they helped me conquer serious injuries I sustained. 

Mastering yoga poses has given me discipline, strength, flexibility, functional body movement, mind-body coordination and more. 

However, after many years spent perfecting postures and breathing techniques I began to feel there was something missing in my practice. 

You know those moments when it all makes sense, and everything seems as clear as a bell? 

You may have had these moments from time to time but when you are practising your postures with a meditative approach these moments surface more often. 

I began to desire more of these moments.

If you search your heart you’ ll remember that deep inside exists a silent self that knows everything about you and the world around you. 

Atman, the inner self, is childlike and wise and is instinctively drawn to everything it needs to grow - it is our first taste of bliss. 

It’s a shame that most of our lives are spent hiding and protecting this wondrous, connected and completely free being from those around us out of the fear of getting hurt.

On the treadmill of life in a state of stress, it is impossible to know the real you, to know the truth of your existence. 

I would go even further and add that it’s impossible to reach your true potential as a human being if you are in a constant cycle of stress. 

Modern life, with all of its distractions, perpetuates this cycle and diverts your attention from the innate qualities of peace, wisdom, and harmony. 

I know this through my own practice and I can honestly tell you that yoga naturally helps you to develop a healthier approach to life. 

When you start to tune into yourself at a deeper level you become much more conscious of what is good for you.

I feel very fortunate because I found a true meditation technique that allows me to experience inner peace almost effortlessly. 

Through using this technique I learned how to regularly enter a state of complete mental silence. 

Patanjali calls this Nirvichara. 

In this state, the constant barrage of thoughts that normally flow through the mind slowly fade away. 

What is revealed is an organic, intuitive, connected persona that emanates joy and peace. 

Sometimes, spontaneously, we have a glimpse of Nirvichara and enter this state of awareness. 

Oprah Winfrey used to call these “light bulb moments” where you are completely switched on.

After practising yoga poses and breathing techniques for many years I began to perceive Nirvichara but it was impossible to establish. 

But when we want something intensely enough our desire grows so strong that it becomes a force that compels us. 

Desire is the force that compels action and it has the power draw things towards us. 

Desire is the seed of manifestation in this world

I believe that my desire to enter into the state of Nirvichara is what ultimately guided me to my master for instruction. 

It was a case of the old proverb: when the disciple is ready the master shall appear. 

For me and my tremendous fortune, she did appear, in the form of the great Maharashtrian Saint - Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

Through her teachings and techniques, I learned how to enter into the heart of yoga and meditate on the eternal aspect of my own existence.

I became so completely sustained by the bliss of nirvichara through meditation that for eighteen months I didn’t even practice one single posture, I just didn’t feel the need! 

Don’t get me wrong I love yoga postures and doing physical workouts. However, my own practice is now less physically intense than it used to be. 

Meditation is now at the heart of my practice. 

My focus is on maintaining the connection to Atman - the inner self - because that is the wellspring of all my joy, truth, energy, and peace.

Meditation has become the source of sustenance for my life now.

(I share the technique for free here)

What is yoga, what is the goal?

In saying this, I would like to share with you my own understanding of Yoga which, of course, has been through many editorial processes over the past 30 years of study, experience and personal insight.

Many people assume, due to media saturation, and the modern pursuit of physical perfection, that yoga is the practice of physical postures and breathing exercises. 

If this were the case, it would also be safe to assume that ballet dancers and gymnasts are practicing Yoga due to their use of similar postures and their mastery over the physical form. 

However, whilst there are many practices associated with Yoga, it is important to realise that Yoga is, by definition, not a practice.

Yoga is a state of being

It naturally occurs in humans in the same way that a seed spontaneously sprouts when all of the elements are favourable for growth. 

The postures and breathing practices, to some extent, allow you to attain glimpses of this state of being. 

In the philosophy of Yoga, the elements which make a human being are: 

• the physical body 
• the mind 
• the emotions 
• the Inner Spirit, aka, the Atman 

In the state of being called YOGA, the body is completely relaxed, the mind is still, the emotions are light and joyous, and there is a natural awareness of connectedness - of being part and parcel of the whole. 

It is a result of unification and complete identification with the eternal aspect of your - self - Atman.

The elements needed for yoga

Other necessary elements that yogic aspirants ( known as Sadhakas) need in their approach to Yoga are equal measures of: 

• pure desire (shudha itcha) 
• Bhakti (devotion) 
• Effort (tapas) 
• Faith (shraddha) 
• an effective technique that is grounded in Nirmal Vidya (pure knowledge).

Sadhakas become Yogis when their attention is absorbed within the deep silence of true meditation (Dhyana) due to the awakening of the latent residual energy called Kundalini which is coiled at the base of the spine and its unification with Atman which is located within the heart plexus of all human beings.

It is only when this unification takes place that there can be sufficient mental silence for Atman to be perceived and the experience of Yoga to be integrated into the persona. 

The chakras are the hidden gems of yoga

The profound blessing of the awakened state of Yoga manifests when the pure innate qualities contained within the chakras begin to express themselves spontaneously in the Yogi’s daily life. 

The qualities of the chakras are the true gems of Yoga and can be illustrated by the timeless metaphor of the lotus unfurling its petals towards the light of the sun.

To comprehend the chakras in their completely awakened state all you have to do is look towards global personalities such as: 

• Lau Tzu
• Confucius
• Socrates
• Kabir
• Adi Shankaracharya
• Buddha
• Jesus Christ
• The Prophet Mohamad 
• Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Personalities such as these were undoubtedly born with enlightened qualities. They demonstrated to humanity that it is possible to live, function, and operate from a place of connectedness. 

These global personas effortlessly exuded the pure qualities of the 7 chakras:

• Muladhara - Wisdom/Innocence
• Swadhistana - Creativity
• Manipura - Contentment, Peace & Self Mastery
• Anahata - Compassion/Fearlessness
• Vishudhi - Detachment/Diplomacy
• Agnya - Forgiveness/Humility
• Sahasrara - Complete Integration

What is your desire for your yoga practice?

In this day and age with the erosion of religion, when the word morality is met with cynicism and intense intellectual debate, and with what the World Health Organisation is calling “The Global Stress Epidemic,”

THE REAL GOAL for the true modern yogic aspirant should be something like this:

1. Move beyond the endless pursuit of physical perfection
2. Strive to live in the AWAKENED STATE of yoga
3. Desire to feel completely connected to the living universe
4. Move away from external identifications and identify with the ETERNAL SELF - Atman
5. Seek to awaken the FRAGRANCE of the PURE INNER QUALITIES of the chakras
6. Desire to be a force for positive change in the world by effortlessly, and profoundly, affecting the people around you by being nothing other than your TRUE SELF - ATMAN!

A lofty goal?

This may seem like a lofty goal but I feel it is possible!

It has been my experience that when true yoga occurs in people it is plain to see because they become radiant from the inside out and a wellspring of contentment permeates their entire being. 

They begin to realise that they need a lot less on the material level to be happy. 

Developing healthy relationships and organic social networks is a natural part of their life. In fact many people report it becomes effortless. 

The senses are drawn to the simple beauty of nature. 

Simple things, like a stream of light shining through a water-filled cloud, or listening to birds singing at first light, become a reminder of the deep inner silence that exists within each of us. 

They become a pathway of connection to a natural state of childlike innocence, wisdom, and wonder. 

This is the real gift of yoga!

I will leave you with some ancient words to inspire you to start the inner journey towards your own experience of Yoga:

“A journey of a million miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu

“Know thyself.” Socrates

“Know your self as Truth (Sat), Consciousness (Chit), and Bliss (Anand), then you shall be free from the cause and effect of the phenomenal world.” Ashtavakra

“Knock and the door shall be opened, ask and you shall receive.” Jesus Christ

“…when the waters of the lake of the mind are still, it reflects the undisturbed joy of the creator…” Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

Thank you for your time.

May the light of Atman shine through your eyes and into the hearts of others - Always.