Inspired Journeys

In this episode, Casey and Erin talk about Yoga Sutras 5-7.

The first Vrttayah Pancatayyah Klista aklistah

One group of modifications causes us pain one does not.

It is pointed out that they are not divided into painful and pleasurable. Why? Because even so-called pleasurable thoughts may ultimately bring us pain.

An example of a thought that appears painless but ends up painful might be loved turned sour.

An example of a thought that seems painful but ends up serving us is one of anger. If initially we are angry coming into something, but we work through it and on the other side find joy we can see how emotions can fluctuate. I think it’s when we get stuck in them that it causes us chronic pain.

Sutra 7 is direct perception. Seeing something face-to-face,  the situation will change, but we need to reinforce the ethics in our different situations. That’s where it gets a little tricky.

That is why it is so necessary to know the different traps of the mind that we can get pulled into and know that they are definitely there. It’s the human condition.

Different people can say different things. When we fine-tune our good judgment by doing our self work, we are able to decipher if that message is from a place of truth and love and in our best interest. It helps to take the guesswork out.

Thanks for listening!

Viparyaya mithyajnanam atadrupa pratistham.

Misconception occurs when knowledge of something is not based upon its true form.

Sometime when we approach something in life it appears a lot scarier than it really is.

For example, I used to be so afraid of experiencing my feelings. I would sit and resist and distract, and numb because I had this image of flood gates and if I allowed it, I would just drown. When I started allowing my emotions to trickle in, I found, yea it’s not great all the time but it’s actually a lot better than resisting and fighting.

Avoidance takes so much work as we learned in the Yamas and Niayamas with Santosha.

Yoga Sutra 9

Yoga Sutra 10

When I talked about this with my coach she said it perfectly illustrated that I felt vulnerable, what’s more vulnerable than naked? And in my dreams, I’m traveling with my family to some place exciting like an amusement park.

Our last sutra today is number eleven. Anubhuta Visayasmapramosah Smrtih: When a mental modification of an object previously experienced and not forgotten comes back to consciousness, that is memory.

Thanks for listening. Namaste

In this episode Casey and Erin discuss the yoga sutras one through four. The yoga sutras for those who do not know are a complete manual for the study and practice of yoga. They include advice on mastering the mind and achieving physical, mental and emotional harmony and life through applying the ancient yet timeless techniques of Raja yoga.

We start by breaking down the first yoga sutra; Atha Yoganusasanam means now the exposition of yoga is being made. This means that yoga can only take place in the present. Sure, we can discuss events for the future and past, but that is not the practice. Yoga means to connect, and unite. We are connecting and uniting our mind body and spirit.

The second yoga sutra is Yogas Citta Vritti Nirodhah. It is said that for the beginning yoga student this is the only yoga sutra you need. This sutra means that yoga is the restraint of the modification of the mind. If you can control the rising of the mind into ripples, you will experience yoga. The extraordinary experience gained by controlling the modifications of the mind is its self called yoga. So as we are already learning the poses are just one small part of an eight Limb system.

Yoga sutra three is Tada Drastuh Svarupe Vasthanam. This means that the seer abides in his own nature. To break that down further, your mind when left un-directed will choose to distort the truth. When we can leave that place and tap into our truth, life is OK. Nothing is wrong until we attach an opinion or judgment to it.

Yoga sutra four is Vritti Sarupyam Itaratra At other times the self appears to assume the forms of the mental modifications. So this means that at times we put on a pseudo-identity, which means that we think one of our thoughts is reality, but it’s not. Without any identifications, who are you? That is how you come back to your true self.

Today, Casey and Erin discuss the process of non-judgement or rather, detaching from judging and opinions and how that can create openness, freedom, and connection. “The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”

This is the benefit of meditation and cleaning our internal mirror.

When we see things as they are, it’s a lot easier because we are not in the state of resistance the whole time.

Resistance takes a lot of energy. When we resist our feelings and resisting what is true for us in the moment.

I think that’s where judgement comes in. It’s resistance to what is. We are trying to justify it or make sense of god’s creations. The device we are using to evaluate though is tainted with our life experience. So how we judge others will be true for us, and no one else.

We never know what another person’s truth is for them. That’s why it’s so important not to judge.

When we judge we put limits on ourselves and others.

What we judge other people for is what we do not accept in ourselves.

“Our parents, our children, our spouses, and our friends will continue to press every button we have, until we realize what it is that we don’t want to know about ourselves, yet. They will point us to our freedom every time.”

A great strategy to overcome judgement and connect with ourselves is:

How does it Feel?

“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do.”

I interviewed a candidate for YTT today and we discussed how if I can produce openness in me I become like a pool of water. You can see yourself reflected in me. If that pool of water has the vibration of love, then when you see me, you will see love. I am grateful that I can offer that to people says Erin

“Never judge others. You both know good and well how unexpected events can change who a person is. Always keep that in mind. You never know what someone else is experiencing within their own life.”

Today Casey and Erin talk about transition into a healthy lifestyle and also past eating disorders.

If you struggle with an eating disorder this could be your halfway to a spiritual awakening. It was for me.

I used to curse my eating disorder. I was so into fitness, and as an athlete I felt like I deserve to have a muscular athletic body. I felt like I work so hard that I should be able to have that. When I explored why I wanted that type of body so bad, it was because I wanted to be admired, loved, and accepted. I wanted to be respected. I wanted to dodge any judgment and be liked by everyone.

But, I refused to sit with myself. It’s funny I have told the story about my first yoga experience, and actually that is inaccurate. In Japan is when I first got into yoga, but my first yoga experience was actually my first two years of college. I took a class, and I thought it was stupid, slow, and my mind was too busy for it.

I was caught in the dream, or rather the whirlwind, the tornado, the nightmare. I was trapped in layers of thoughts run by an illusion that my ego produced. If I do step one, step two and step three, I will be happy. I listened to that false voice for so long.

Even when my intuition was screaming out, I ignored it and I listened to this insane voice in my head of what I had to do. And what I had to do was look a certain way, and then I would be happy.

“To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively watch your problems instead of being lost in them. No solution can possibly exist while you’re lost in the energy of a problem. Everyone knows you can’t deal well with a situation if you’re getting anxious, scared, or angry about it. The first problem you have to deal with is your own reaction. You will not be able to solve anything outside until you own how the situation affects you inside. Problems are generally not what they appear to be.”

Jump into your life with your whole heart, trusting that you will fly to God! This jewel and our final niyama presupposes that there is a divine force at work in our lives and if we can surround to it, we can enjoy the opening of our hearts and accept the higher purpose of our being.

A perfect illustration of this Niyama is in Savasana which literally means corpse pose. In this posture we usually take at the end of yoga class, we let go and surrender that all that needed to be done has been and we accept the moment and its gifts without resistance.

Erin shares the story of how Frannie Hoffman helped her become more present and connected in her life. By staying connected to god and surrendering to the space by letting go of the ego, life comes to us with much more ease and we can navigate it more spiritually.

Frannie talks about her journey to trust herself to stay present and learn to stay present and get to know who she really is. She wrote a book called, From Modeling Clothes to Modeling Self. She said that what is great about the journey inward is that you don’t have to be perfect to find this place of God. She recommends staying humble to this human place in ourselves that is sometimes hard to look at.

Frannie shares her journey of how even the most minor pollutant put her into a catatonic state. In her journey she discovered it was less about external pollution and more about the internal pollution she had created inside by rejecting herself constantly.

As we journey inward we learn to face ourselves like nobody else could. That part we disconnect from that we are so afraid to touch, the key is to love and accept all parts of ourselves. In her work she shows people how to stay with every part of their humanity. She does meditation circles to help people reconnect.

Know yourself so well that you will grow into your wholeness and greatness. Svadhyaya or self-study is about knowing our true identity as Divine and understand the boxes we are wrapped in. The process of unwrapping our boxes and letting go of what we are not creates our pathway to liberation.

Self-Study is a huge part of a Yogi’s life. We study ourselves on and off the mat. While on the mat, we check in with our breath, our energy, our thoughts, energy, and posture. Off the mat, we become the witness of our minds, notice our mental patterns, and do our best to understand ourselves and lead good lives.

Casey quotes, “We all carry it within us, supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, unquenchable joy, it is never thwarted, and cannot be destroyed. But it is hidden deep which is what makes life a problem. “

Mfon joins us later in the show to talk about her experience of studying and getting to know herself and her patterns. She went through a process of shedding where she let go bad habits and patterns she had gotten into that were self destructive. Through her kundalini yoga practice, pranayama, meditation, and new sense of faith, she started to shift deeply inside. She continues her journey and by changing her habits and thoughts, she now leads a productive, satisfying life.

Can you show courage and stay in the fire until you find the blessing in the lesson? Tapas is our determined effort to become someone of character and strength. Tapas means heat and can be likened to putting gold into a fire over and over. Each time we burn, we become more pure. It is important to first have our intention from a place of love. But our inner strength can be built up like a muscle. The more we flex it, the stronger it becomes and the more we can take. We are less likely to flee when life’s challenges present themselves to us, and we can learn to invite them in because we know we can handle it and we know we will grow from the experience.

Erin talks about Sages in India and how they would build small fires around themselves and even wear a hat with fire burning in it. Through these experiences they learned to stay with discomfort and find the peace inside of themselves even when their primal reactions wanted to fight or flight.

Erin remember s a sign in her Dojo saying, “Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win.” If we give up on ourselves repeatedly, we cheat ourselves out of becoming that person of integrity and unmatched strength to handle all of life’s challenges.

Kevin Bergquist comes on the show and talks about how no one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. You can only share discipline from a place of love. It is a firm, unwavering love, and then you can really get through to your students.

Erin and Kevin share stories of the importance of compassion and love.

Casey and Erin talk about contentment. Erin starts by talking about her experience on a silent retreat with a Buddhist nun. The experience allowed a lot of time to appreciate life without all of the distractions and stimulations of technology, future aspirations, or anything outside of ourselves. Purposely creating gratitude in our lives is another way, but usually that takes creating some space and remembering that we are not our thoughts, mind, or body.

Casey and Erin talk about the benefit of retreats to reset our internal contentment.

Erin goes on to talk about a small book she has with little snippets of positive affirmations and then goes onto talk about the movie Magic Mike. If we fast forward through life, just the way we want to fast forward through the acting scenes and get straight to the dance scenes, we miss out on all of the wonderful character development.

When you love what you have, you have all you want.

When we resist and want to escape our lives, it makes it very difficult to achieve contentment and maintain it. If we can slow down and notice the significant in the insignificant, how much pleasure we can get from just breathing and being alive, or how beautiful a person looks when they smile to themselves, we are more likely to lead a happy life.

Seeking and Avoiding are expensive uses of our energy. If we are constantly trying to avoid pain and seeking pleasure, we will be exhausted and disappointed in the end. If we can learn to sit in the eye of the storm, we can watch the world around us and still hold our peace and peace for others. So that in good as well as challenging times, we won’t fall apart.

As we purify ourselves physically and mentally, we become less cluttered and heavy; purification brings about a brightness and clarity to our essence.

Erin shares the story of what brought her to the yoga mat. It was not seeking anything about enlightenment, it was to lose 5 pounds. As she kept coming back, she started letting go of thoughts that made her internal mirror dirty. She tells the story of the yoga challenges she has at the studio and the process of shedding non-serving thoughts and how the physical practice releases toxicity so we can function in a more healthy place. Taking steps to cleanse and pruify ourselves will look different for each of us.

Detoxes are a hot topic around the holidays and that looks different for everyone. Some people choose green juice other choose things like the Whole 30.

Whatever form purifying takes, it is always begins with an intension to “lighten” the load we are carrying.

This is the gift that the jewel of Saucha gives us. It’s tricky to be pure in thought, body, and spirit though. It comes down a lot to intention. Our intentions must be pure and that sets the stage for our actions to take place from love.

Erin gives us some tips towards the end of the show for detoxing. She mentions juicing and using the rainbow method, how to stimulate the lymphatic system with dry brushing, and the benefits of epsom salts.