Tapas: Working with Dedication

by Nina

Cloud and Sunset by Brad Gibson

When my mother broke her hip in her mid-seventies, she surprised me with her ferocious dedication to working toward a full recovery. She did her physical therapy exercises every day, soon worked her way up toward walking around the block with a walker, and eventually over time regained full use of her new hip. From then on she was able to walk easily and with no aids almost until the end of her life. I was remembering this the other day because I was thinking about how when we get older it can sometimes take a lot of work to stay physically independent. And some people find it easier just to give up.

Another family member recently told me that even though she was not yet 60, she could no longer get up and down from the floor, so she had just stopped trying to do it. Concerned, I asked if she was having knee problems or.... She said it was just that her legs were no longer strong enough to make the movements. Have you tried using a chair for support? I asked. She replied that this seemed too awkward, and shrugged it off, adding that she preferred just to give it up. A bit alarmed at the thought of a woman her age not being able to get up off the floor—what if she fell when no one else was around?—I said that I thought she should reconsider, that maybe this skill was too important to let go of so easily. With practice, this skill is probably something she could regain. You're probably right, she agreed, but I could tell she wasn't fully convinced or perhaps was just unwilling.

While someone like Shari might be able to come up with a yoga routine for my relative to do that would help her build the strength and agility to relearn getting up and down from the floor—and maybe I'll be asking Shari to come up with one—the kind of yoga I had in mind for this woman was the practice of tapas. I imagined her just starting to practice every day or even several times a day getting up and down from the floor with some kind of support until eventually she would need less and less support. In other words, like my mother learning to walk on her own again, she could through grit and determination do the hard work that something like this requires. Babies do this naturally and instinctively of course, but somehow relearning these skills can feel like too much work to some older adults.

In his post on the niyamas (see The Second Branch of Yoga: The Niyamas (Your "To Do" List), Ram defined tapas as "a burning desire or a disciplinary approach to achieve one’s aims and aspirations." Practicing tapas is how we reap the rewards of yoga, whether through a regular meditation practice or doing asana five or six days a week. I sometimes accompanied my mother back when she was walking through her neighborhood with that walker—clearly struggling both with the physical difficulty of it as well as the emotional toll—and even at the time I was struck with admiration at her commitment to the task at hand. She couldn't know for sure that she was going to succeed at learning to walk again but she was going to give it her damnedest.

I've always thought of tapas as the yang to santosha's (contentment) yin (again, see Ram's post on the niyamas). Yes, we need to cultivate contentment with what we have and with what we don't have but we also have our work to do. That's what Krishna explains to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita when Arjuna asks why, if we shouldn't be attached to the outcomes of our actions, we should even try to do anything. 

Not by not acting in this world
does one become free from action,
nor does one approach perfection
by renunciation only.
Not even for a moment does
someone exist without acting.
Even against one’s will, one acts
by the nature-born qualities.

We need to work to support ourselves and our families, we need to work for the good of our communities, we need to work on our spiritual development, and we need to do the work required to keep our bodies as strong and healthy as possible to enable us to do the rest of our work. After all, that is why Hatha yoga was initially developed. Ancient yogis knew a strong and pain-free body was helpful for spiritual growth, as being distracted by illness or pain might interfere with spiritual practices (of course, this does not mean that people with illnesses or pain cannot practice yoga). So doing what we can to maintain our health is an essential part of our work.

Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward.
Work not for a reward; but never cease to do thy work.
Do thy work in the peace of Yoga and, free from selfish desires, be not moved in success or failure. Yoga is evenness of mind—a peace that is ever the same. — translation by Juan Mascaro

I don't know if my message got through to my relative but I really hope it did. She's a wonderful, good-hearted person and I would love to see her stay strong and independent for as long as possible.

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The Power of Svadhyaya (Self-Study), Part 2

by Nina

Anatomical Body
India, Gujarat, 18th century

While preparing to write this post, I discovered that I had, uh, completely forgotten about some of the things I’ve written for the blog. (Hey, I’ve been writing at least one post a week—and sometimes two or three—for almost three years.) Yes, I was quite surprised to find a post about how we could use the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita to heal from an election so divisive that even Big Bird wasn’t being nice (see Yoga Philosophy of the Day, Part 2), another about how I was using yoga philosophy to prepare for a trip to Germany that I was feeling uneasy about (see Yoga Philosophy of the Day), and a third about how we can use wisdom of yoga to change our behavior patterns (see Thinking About the Wisdom of Yoga). But it’s no surprise at all to me that I find yoga philosophy extremely valuable in my every day life. And I’ve written about that in a general overview—which I have not forgotten about—called Why You Should Study Yoga Philosophy.  

As I mentioned in my post Svadhyaya (Self-Study), Part 1, there are two different interpretations of the meaning of niyama svadhyaya (self-study). In his book The Yoga Sutras of Patajanli, Edwin Bryant says:

Svadhyaya literally means self-study, but it more commonly refers to the study of sacred texts (in a sense the two meanings overlap, since sacred texts typically teach about the self).

So while one meaning of svadhyaya is to cultivate your inner witness to study your own self as I wrote about my first post earlier this week, another is to study the yoga scriptures, such as the Bhagavad Gita and The Yoga Sutras, and—if you’re feeling brave—the Vedas and Upanishads. And this type of study complements your self-study because as you read these texts, you can reflect how to use the knowledge they contain. I consulted with Ram before writing my posts on svadhyaya’s two different meanings, and he recommended asking yourself these questions about the scriptures:

• How do you use the knowledge for self-empowerment? 
• How do you use the knowledge for the betterment of society? 
• How do you grow in body and mind after reading those scriptures? 

This kind of self-study can also include more than reading just the original scriptures themselves. As Ram said:

S(s)vadhyaya =education, study, or knowledge improvement that is gained from studying not just scriptures but any book or any experience that provides deep meaning or interpretation of life (that is, thought provoking).

So svadhyaya includes any books about yoga, whether books that interpret the scriptures, such as the Edwin Bryant book I mentioned above (which I frequently turn to), books about the history of yoga, such as Georg Feuerstein’s The Yoga Tradition about ancient yoga and Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice by Mark Singleton about modern yoga, or modern books about yoga (plus, our blog, of course). Obviously, texts from the religions of the world will also provide you with food for thought, but you should also consider psychology books and books about human behavior. Two of the non-fiction books that have influenced me greatly include Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn and A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon. Even fiction that explores the human condition can contribute to your self-study (I read an interesting New York Times article For Better Social Skills, Scientists Recommend a Little Chekhov that explained how literary fiction can help you develop empathy and improve your understanding of human behavior).

It makes a lot of sense that in our studies of the self, we should turn to the wisdom of others. After all, yogis and people of other cultures worldwide have been engaged in self-study for centuries, so we can learn a tremendous amount from their experiences. As a matter of fact, the single piece of yogic wisdom that I keep returning to in my everyday life is over two thousand years old:

The wise man lets go of all

results, whether good or bad,

and is focused on the action alone.

Yoga is skill in actions.

—Bhagavad Gita

Brad and I have been talking about that quote a lot lately because he has been taking on some big challenges at work and he finds that taking this yogic approach has helped him maintain some peace of mind. (And, yes, I do remember that I include that quote that in my posts all the time!)

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The Power of Svadhyaya (Self-Study), Part 1

by Nina

Tama River in the Musashi Province by Hokusai

One of the most difficult times in my life—and in my marriage—was when Brad and I were fighting over our future. When our children were small, he wanted the four of us to move to New York City because he was interested in a possible academic position at a university there, and I wanted to stay in Berkeley so I could keep my own job—which felt like a special opportunity to me—stay near my family, and raise our children in a house with a garden rather than a small apartment. Without going into details about our arguments, I’ll just say that our desires for our future were so different that it felt like they were tearing us apart. And I became extremely stressed out and anxious. But here’s the thing: although Brad interviewed for the job he wanted, the university decided not to hire anyone for that position after all. So in the end, all the angst we went through was over nothing. I eventually realized that this was a pattern in our relationship—battling over things that hadn’t happened yet. I also realized I had a tendency to be anxious about possible future scenarios. So after that I came up the following motto for myself: Don’t Panic Too Soon. Believe it or not, just having this simple motto has been quite powerful, and I continue to invoke it to this day. 

When Ram wrote his post The Second Branch of Yoga: The Niyamas, we both realized that we don’t have very many articles on the individual niyamas on the blog. Yes, we have a few posts on santosha (Santosha: Happiness and Longevity and Yoga Philosophy: Contentment) but not much else. So I decided to look at the list of niyamas to see if there was one I felt I could write about. It was easy for me to choose because there is one particular niyama that I’ve found especially valuable in my daily life: svadhyaya. In his post, Ram said of svadhyaya:

“The path to self-realization is also through introspection and contemplation of our own life’s lessons. Introspecting about our emotions, thoughts, actions, and reactions helps us to learn about our own self and our true nature. When we reflect on our flaws and allow our mistakes to serve as learning lessons, we have the opportunity to grow.”

In our journeys toward the equanimity that is yoga, we can all benefit from this study of the self. Ram explained that we do so by becoming a witness to our own selves. As a witness, you observe with detachment what’s happening within you—your sensations, thoughts, emotions, and feelings. The Sankrit word sākshī (saa-kshe), refers to the “pure awareness” that witnesses the world but does not get affected by it or involved with it. The term combines “sa,” which means “with,” and “aksha,” which means “senses or eyes.” So the sakshi is an awareness that can disengage from any identification with thoughts and observe them “with its own eyes.” Another meaning of the word aksha is “the center of a wheel.” When a wheel turns, the spokes revolve and the outer rim rotates, but the center—the hub of the wheel—is still. So the witness mind remains steady while events turn around it.

In meditation, your witness mind is essential. Your witness mind observes when your attention has wandered from the object of your meditation—and to what. Rather than floating down the stream of your thoughts, you sit on the shore and impartially observe from a distance (see What is Meditation?). But you can also use your witness mind during your asana practice by cultivating mindfulness (see What is Mindfulness?). To do this, step back and tune into the constant judging and reacting to inner and outer experiences that constantly stream through your mind. In your asana practice, it can be especially illuminating to use this technique when you practice challenging poses or poses you dislike.

Eventually you can use on your witness mind during any activity. In my post Mental Yoga: Thataashut I wrote about using my witness mind when I was trying to write a blog post while construction was going on outside my window. Observing my thought patterns helped me calm down and find some peace of mind even with people arguing outside and making the kind of invasive noise that only large machines are capable of. Observing your habits can help you change the way you react to stress (see Changing the Brain's Stressful Habits). And it can help you in general to change your patterns of reactivity (see Meditation and Brain Strength). All of this will help you cultivate equanimity in your daily life—not to mention fewer marital battles—and we can all use some of that.

That’s it for today. Svadhyaya actually has two different interpretations, and I was originally going to write about both of them in this post. But I’m starting to feel like I’ve gone on long enough, so I’ve decided to divide the subject into two separate posts. So stay tuned for another post this week on the second interpretation of svadhyaya: study of the scriptures.

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The Second Branch of Yoga: The Niyamas (Your "To Do" List)

by Ram

Path at La Cavee, Pourville by Claude Monet

In my post Ashtanga Yoga: Following the Eight-Fold Path Ashtanga Yoga: Following the Eight-Fold Path, I defined Ashtanga Yoga (Ashta=eight; Anga=limbs) as the eight-fold path/eight rungs/limbs/steps of yoga, whose practice helps us to discriminate between ignorance and awareness and truth from illusion which is the means for liberation or enlightenment. I followed it up by discussing the first of the eight steps Yamas  as moral and ethical strategies that guide us to lead a conscious, honest and ethical life.

Today’s article focuses on Niyamas, the second of the eight rungs or limbs. If the Yamas are "don't do" practices," the Niyamas are the “to do” practices. These are personal observances/practices of self-training and deal with how we relate to the environment around us as well as to our own selves. The five niyamas are: 

1. Saucha=cleanliness
2. Santosha=contentment
3. Tapas=spiritual austerities
4. Svadhyaya=study of the sacred scriptures and of one's self
5. Isvara pranidhana=surrender to divinity 

Saucha (Cleanliness): Many teachers discuss this topic as cleanliness of the body. But Saucha is cleanliness and purification at the level of both body and mind. In addition to keeping our body clean and eating healthy food, it also includes harboring pure thoughts. A purified body brings clarity and purity to the mind. A clear and pure mind draws only harmonious impressions that allow the individual to walk on the path of truth, so Saucha lays the foundation to understand our true nature. Therefore, it becomes essential to find time each day to practice the observance of Saucha. 

Santosha (Happiness/Contentment):  To be contented and happy even while experiencing life’s difficulties becomes a process of growth through all kinds of circumstances. Santosha means being happy with what we have rather than being unhappy about what we don't have. Humans are always seeking for more and never seem contented with their materialistic possessions and internal fantasies. This leads to misery and triggers the disease process. However, if we are contented with our wants, wishes and needs, and truly happy with our lifestyle and what we currently have, it will help us in the journey to absolute truth and the highest realization. Your own test for Santosha would be about whether you respond through the five senses and react to the changes in all the circumstances of life or whether you listen to your inner voice and are not swayed by the material instincts. For more on this, read my article Santosha: Happiness and Longevity.

Tapas (Spiritual Austerities): This term is derived from the root word “taph,” which means blaze, burning, discipline, and illumination, and refers to a burning desire or a disciplinary approach to achieve one’s aims and aspirations. Several teachers translate this term to mean austerities; the reason being that in order to reach your goal in life, you need to have motivation, fiery discipline, focus and intense commitment. These qualities help to burn/ward off the mental obstacles and physical impediments that keep us from being in the true state of yoga. The goals of Tapas are:

• stopping being dictated by the five senses
• reigning in the mind
• listening to the voice of intellect
• performing mindful actions

When you act from your intellect and nurture your burning aspirations, you are freeing yourself from the many mindless actions that cause suffering. The effort you use when you engage tapas is directed toward cultivating meaningful and healthful habits whose practice now seem effortless. No longer is it a discipline, but a way of life.

Svadhyaya (Self Study): This term is derived from the root words Sva=Self and Adhyaya= study, education, knowledge, wisdom. I interpret Svadhyaya as education of the self, introspection, and self-realization. Self-study and realization help the mind to become clear or pure and develop deeper mind-body awareness. A clear mind is not affected by stress and produces a healthy body, thus creating a greater connection with one's own pure, essential nature. The path to self-realization is also through introspection and contemplation of our own life’s lessons. Introspecting about our emotions, thoughts, actions, and reactions helps us to learn about our own self and our true nature. When we reflect on our flaws and allow our mistakes to serve as learning lessons, we have the opportunity to grow. By turning a witness to your own self, you begin to notice what’s happening within you—your sensations, thoughts, emotions, and feelings—thus, through the process of self study you are empowering your self. 

Ishvara Pranidhana (Surrender to Divinity): This term is derived from the root words Isvara=state of collective consciousness and pranidhana=presence, dedication, devotion, and surrender to the fruits of practice. When we expand our individual consciousness and merge with the universal consciousness, we experience true self. Our world is a reflection of our own consciousness, and our experiences in the world are determined by what is going on within our consciousness. This individual identity masks the true nature of consciousness. Through the process of awakening and surrendering to the outcome of our actions we have the ability to take actions that do not serve the ego but which originate from our own consciousness. Through study, inquiry, reflection, and awareness, our consciousness is able to pierce through the illusory world, achieve mind-body awareness, and ultimately attain enlightenment. Notice and observe that ultimate state is divine, loving, and peaceful, and gives the feeling of oneness with body, mind and spirit.

Thus, Niyamas help us to perform those activities that not only empower us but the society around us as well. Such beneficial activities do not disturb the Self’s natural balance and the environment around us. Performing these activities assists us in gradually recognizing our true nature. The body is at ease; the mind attains peace.

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