Checking-In: A Guided Meditation by Jill Satterfield

by Jill

Tulip Closeup by Melina Meza

It’s not often enough that we check in with ourselves and ask ourselves how we are or notice how we are feeling physically, emotionally and mentally. But this is precisely what we need to do more of. This fruitful self-reflection (svadhyaya) and taking of our own pulse so to speak allows for more conversation between body, mind and heart. It offer the self knowledge we need to take better care of ourselves, and decide how we might best practice according to how we are feeling that particular moment or day. We need to see things as they are, in the present moment, to know what to do about what we see and make skillful choices.

So today I’m offering you a video of a short, guided meditation that you can practice at the beginning of your asana session. 

You can also practice this meditation after your asana session. If we check in again at the end of our practice, we can know exactly what that particular practice offered us in terms of benefits to body, heart and mind. We embody the practice by recognizing its benefits. In this way we are experimenting all the time to see what works best—practice these postures, this breath technique, this focus for our meditation—and notice each time what each practice has to offer and why we might wish to do it again and for what reasons.

Self- inquiry is an integral component of any spiritual practice (see The Power of Svadhyaya, Part 1). Checking in is a simple start to self-inquiry and self-care. Kindness and wisdom will naturally blossom from this practice over time.

Jill Satterfield is the founder of Vajra Yoga + Meditation, a synthesis of yoga and Buddhism that combines meditation, yoga and contemplative practices. Named “one of the 4 leading yoga and Buddhist teachers in the country” by Shambhala Sun Magazine, Jill has instigated mindful and creative educational programs for over 28 years.

She is also the founder and Director of the School for Compassionate Action: Meditation, Yoga and Educational Support for Communities in Need, a not-for-profit that trains teachers, psychologists and health care providers to integrate mind and body practices into their professions. SCA also provides classes to people in chronic pain, with illness, those suffering from PTSD, and at-risk youth. Jill teaches workshops internationally, is a faculty member of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Mindfulness for Yoga Training and the Somatic Training in Marin, California, and is a guest teacher for many other training programs. To find out more about Jill, visit her website vajrayoga.com.

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Svadhyaya, Reading, and Brain Strength

by Ram

Woman Reading by Pablo Picasso

In the Sadhana Pada of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali we are introduced to the eight rungs/limbs/steps of Yoga, whose practice helps us to develop attention as a tool to discriminate between ignorance and awareness, and truth from illusion, which is the means for liberation or enlightenment. The niyamas constitute the second of the eight rungs or limbs and are “to do” practices, which serve as personal observances/practices of self-training. There are five niyamas, which I have already described in my previous post The Second Branch of Yoga: The Niyamas.

Svadhyaya is one of the five niyamas and translates as: Sva=Self; Adhyaya=reading, chapter, self-study, education, knowledge, wisdom. I interpret svadhyaya as education of the self, introspection, and self-realization. One of the ways by which you educate your self is through self-study or reading. According to the Yoga Sutras, reading brings about clarity of the mind and paves the way for deeper mind-body awareness. A clear mind is not affected by stress and a clear mind produces a healthy body, thus creating a greater connection with one's own pure, essential nature. Reading helps us to introspect and contemplate life’s lessons. Introspecting about our emotions, thoughts, actions, and reactions helps us to recognize our true nature. By turning a witness to our own self, we begin to notice what’s happening within us—our sensations, thoughts, emotions and feelings. So through the process of self-study and reading we empower ourselves. 

Being a neuroscientist, I was naturally curious as to what exactly happens to the structure and function of the brain when an individual is deeply immersed in a book. To understand this better, let us familiarize ourselves with few areas of the brain: 

Left Temporal Cortex. The temporal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the mammalian brain and is part of the cerebral cortex located on the lower side of each cerebral hemisphere. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both hemispheres of the mammalian brain. It is associated with a plethora of functions, including auditory perception, long-term memory, and emotional responses. The hippocampi, which are involved in consolidating memory and recall, are located in the temporal lobe. 

Central Sulcus. This is the region of fold of the brain that separates the frontal lobe from the parietal lobe, and divides the sensory and motor areas of the brain. Thus, one of the primary functions of this area is to convert sensory inputs into physical sensations. 

Broca’s Areas. This is the region of the brain that is involved in the control of speech, and is located in the frontal part of the left hemisphere of the brain. Its main function is linked to speech and language production. Injury to this area impairs the ability to speak together with a deficit in language production.

Wernicke’s Areas. Also called Wernicke's speech area, this is another area of the cerebral cortex that is linked to speech. In particular, Wernicke’s area is involved in the production of written and spoken language. Damage caused to Wernicke's area will result in the individual fluently connecting words but that lack meaning. 

Reading requires focus (dharana) and attention (dhyana). When you read mindfully without any distraction, several areas of the brain undergo transformation. The Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas are constantly firing signals to interpret the words and language. Additionally, other areas of the brain may get involved. For example, if you are reading a text that has odor words, such as coffee, rosemary, or lavender, the word automatically evokes that specific odor. So not only are the word processing areas stimulated, but so are the areas of the brain responsible for the smell sensation. In a landmark study published in the journal NeuroImage Reading cinnamon activates olfactory brain regions, participants were tested on words that had strong odor associations or that were neutral (words that had very weak or nil odor association). As they kept reading, the researchers scanned their brains with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. When subjects encountered words like “perfume, garlic, or jasmine,” the olfactory areas of their brain brightly lit up. However, none of the brain areas lit up when subjects encountered neutral or odorless words like “chair” or “key,” suggesting a close neural network connection between the language areas and olfaction centers of the brain. 

Similarly, another team of researchers showed a link between reading and empathy. Individuals who frequently read fiction seem to understand other people better and empathize with them. The authors concluded that reading fiction triggers neuronal associations between the language centers and the insular cortex region (a portion of the cerebral cortex folded deep within the central sulcus area) that help the reader better understand human sentiments, values, and emotions. Reading fiction stimulates a myriad of neuronal network connections because it requires the reader to contemplate cause and effect. In the process it reinforces and strengthens those areas of the brain. 

In a recent study Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in the Brain, a group of neuroscientists at Emory University in Atlanta reported that reading has a significant physical effect on a reader’s brain that is long lasting. The researchers carried out a 19-day study on students who were asked to read a book. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was carried out on the students’ brains before and throughout the reading process. After completing the book, the subjects underwent the fMRI examination for another five days. The researchers noted a significant impact on brain connectivity in the left temporal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for processing sensation, emotion, visual memory, and meaning. Additionally, firing of neurons was also observed in the central sulcus, which is associated with sensations and movement. What this meant was that readers of the fiction put themselves in the protagonist’s shoes. It was as though they were acting out the central character’s role. Furthermore, the neural changes were not just immediate reactions as the changes lasted in the subjects’ brains even after they had finished the novel, suggesting that a daily dose of reading could certainly have a bigger and longer-lasting effect on structure and function of the brain. 

Now we realize why Patanjali declared in the Yoga Sutras:

2.4 svadhyayat ishta devata samprayogah 

From self-study and reflection on sacred words (svadhyaya), one attains contact, communion, or concert with that underlying natural reality or force —trans. by Swami  Jnaneshvara 

Brain research shows that Patanjali’s declaration is not a tall claim but the truth. So why wait? If you wish to see long lasting and favorable improvements in your brain structure and function, following your routine yoga, meditation, and pranayama, pick up a good book and experience the numerous benefits that come from reading. 

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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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