Zephyr Yoga Podcast

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Aparigraha is Sanskrit for non-clinging, not-coveting or desiring after outward possessions. It is the concept of non-possessiveness, non-greediness and non-attachment. The opposite is Parigraha, which means “the focus on material gain.” So Aparigraha in Sanskrit breaks downs as – A means “non or against”; pari, means “on all sides”; and graha, means “to take,” “to grab” or “to seize.” 

It is a restraint, not just to refrain from taking things, but from coveting things too. This non-attachment is to material possessions as well as other less tangible things like energy, respect, attention or love. We see how trying to control, possess and hold onto people, places and things increases discontentment, pain and suffering and can hurt people as well as ourselves. The trouble of getting things and keeping them, involves endless drama of holding on to them and preventing those things from changing. The bottom line is EVERYTHING is subject to change. This unfolds into us suffering, Dukkha and when that happens our Kleshas start to get triggered and motivates actions. So letting go of the hankering, yearning, jealousy, and greediness of possessing people, places and things is all a part of learning the art of surrendering, letting go and letting be.

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Brahmacharya literally means ‘walking’ or having ethical conduct like God. Brahma means one’s own Self, ultimate unchanging reality, absolute consciousness, Divinity. Whatever is the God of your understanding. Charya – means walking, engaging, proceeding, behaving, conducting, moving or going after. So it roughly means “to stay true to one’s Self or ones own Atman” or True Self/Soul. That you are walking the path of Brahma – God. 

However, it is mostly referred to as sexual chastity, abstinence, pure sexual conduct. Brahmacharya essentially was meant to suppress any sexual urge and of all activities leading to it. All the information I have read up upon this is directly talking to men, as Yoga was mainly practiced by men. Creating very clear boundaries of being a renunciant of sex was one of the vows which was taken to practice. 

It’s not just abstaining from sexual acting but according to some Sages that a Yogi must refrain from the 8 forms of sexual indulgences:

1. Thinking of sex 
2. talking about sex
3. playing or joking about sex
4. looking intensely at someone stimulating sexual urges
5. secret talking about sex 
6. touching with sexual intent 
7. determination or attempts of sexual acts
8. execution of having sex

The idea is for the Yogi to dissolve the Kleshas, cultivate Sattva Guna and reduce the Karma in this lifetime so to live a moral life as a way to end the cycle of human suffering and to reach enlightenment.

To read more and to practice with Zephyr Wildman, click here. 

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To read more and to practice with Zephyr Wildman, click here. 

To support Zephyr Yoga Podcast, donate here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are working with understanding more about Satya – Truthfulness, the second Yama. 

This is the ability to be truthful, honest and transparent in words, thoughts and actions. Satya is a self-restraint in taking responsibility and accountability of our humanity and determining what is motivating how and what we communicate. Sometimes what is motivating us to share words with one another is the Kleshas, mental-emotional afflictions which corrupt our perception. 

Sometimes we may be ignorant of our dishonesty or not hold the full truth and share half truths – Avidya. This dishonesty might be because of our egoism of wanting to be right, seen, a part of or special – Asmita. There might be an attachment to the subject manner we want – Raga. Or we are avoiding something we don’t want – Dvesa. Or are afraid of what the truth holds – Abinivesha. These are all the 5 Kleshas distorting the truth. 

So to practice Satya, I would suggest pausing when communicating, self-reflecting and discerning whether what you want to share is, to the best of your knowledge, the truth. It says that the truth will always serve a greater purpose if it is noble and honest.

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Yamas are the essential moral principles to practice Yoga. In our western world, we might call these restraints or rules.

Asteya is Non-Stealing. It is the third ethical restraint. Steya means unlawfully taking things that you are not entitled to or that don’t belong to you. Asteya is abstaining from stealing. This refers to possessions, money, materials that are not yours, but can also include stealing; time, energy, ideas, talents, relationships, achievements, successes or even stealing rights or freedoms. When we analyse what motivates us to steal we see that the act is rooted in feeling a lacking of, not enough or there is a feeling of scarcity. Asteya is to abandon the intention, desire to possess or steal from others and oneself. 

In order to illustrate the point, we can use the example of Time. Time is important to everyone. Managing not to show up, to be late or run over time is robbing someone and yourself of one of the most valuable commodities we have. Asteya makes us accountable to stick to the agreed schedule whether if it is work, social or family. Or when you are there – work, social or family, you live in the moment, not in the past, future or fantasies or on your phone. When we recognise when we have wandered, not present with those around us, the realisation that you’re being a time thief! Which gives you the opportunity to self-reflect and notice what is between you and being present with those around you. Asteya asks you to ‘be where you are now, not wasting the time.’

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Yoga is skill in action with loving awareness that awakens our embodiment to an intention set in every practice.

An Intention is an aspiration or energy that draws us to love, truth and creativity.

What matters to you most?

An intention whether it is a New Years intention or a daily intention you set as a commitment to your care in every gesture, grace of movement, sensation, emotion and thought. 

A personal intention increases self-knowledge, empowerment, and self-mastery to positively affect all aspects of our lives towards fulfilment, joy, contentment and serenity.

Whatever the intention is, notice how it impacts your physical, subtle and conscious bodies. 

You as the Yogi or Adhikara, shows up to your devoted practice (whatever that is and looks like) daily. You set an intention after listening to the Heart’s desires, what inherently is True for you as you are guided by your innate wisdom of what intention needs to be fulfilled.

There is said to be 5 essential ingredients to be a Yogi-

• Shraddha – Faith. Trusted belief that the Universe has your back no matter what
• Vidya – Courage, Willpower, Stamina to persevere through life’s obstacles
• Smirti – That which is remembered, To strengthen your memory to what matters to you most
• Samadhi – Absorption, to spend time in repose, resting in the grounded-ness of being
• Prajna – Illumination, Guided by the inner light of the heart-mind, that innate wisdom, your inner teacher

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This practice is inspired by the first Yama, Ahimsa, Non-Violence. 

Over the past few sessions we have focused on clearing the Malas to know, see and act in this world knowing the truth of who and what we are, that there is impermanence to all life and finally being responsible for what is motivating us (Kleshas) which causes suffering. To live is to create Karma and that all activities creates Karma, choices and consequences whether positive or negative on ourselves and others. It is a fundamental desire to a Yogi’s journey to know your personal Dharma – your purpose and devote to your life to fulfilling it, creating as little ‘bad’ Karma as possible. However, it is hard to be perfect, it is impossible to exist without doing some harm to ourselves and others. By avoiding Karma, or action, it said, you still create Karma (sorry!). So the little secret to life is: You fulfil your Dharma and take care of your Karama and Karma will take care of you. One objective of practice is to refine the Buddhi – your intuitive guide, through daily practice of Yoga to see and know the best path for you to take creating the Karma that aligns to your Dharma. Yamas gives us moral and ethical guidelines to reduce as much ‘bad’ Karma and prevents us wavering off our path. 

Ahimsa means non-violence, mentally, emotionally, verbally and physically towards all sentient beings.

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“The simple act of kindness is by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer” Mahatma Gandhi

I was inspired to teach about Maitri as a reaction to current events and the layers of what humanity face all over the world.  Maitri’s Bhavana is to cultivate, produce, develop the feeling is one of friendliness, benevolence, affection, kindness, good-will, it is this unconditional friendship, acceptance and love for oneself and others.

When we strip off our cultural conditioning, bias, beliefs, impressions, habitual tendencies, in the Yogic perspective we all are an expression of the One, Grace, Divinity, Pure Consciousness, the light of Prana that flows within us all. When we say Namaste we are saying the Divine that flows within me, I recognise that same flow of Divine Life within you. That fundamentally we are the essence of a Divine that is in the form of your unique embodiment. And each one of us has a basic goodness, a decency, that love is at our core, our true nature. That we all have a desire to have more joy, happiness and fulfilment in our lives And not to suffer. However, just as the teachings express this is unavoidable because we love and exist we are subjected to the pain of change, illness and death. The ironic dilemma is that the more we love, the deeper we feel it the more it hurts when it changes, we loose it and have to grieve it. It’s like how we enjoy the light and heat of the fire, however when we get to close it burns. We learn to keep ourselves safe by backing away from the fire, but over time we are so faraway from the flame, we can’t benefit from its heat and light. Our work in Practice is to begin to make friends with ourselves, to stop looking for validation outside and turn our attention to feeling at home and relaxed within when we feel that fire burning. Our practice is to build that fire, we call this Tapas, physical fire, energetic fire and mental fire of concentration to create a positive change. As the saying goes “I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me”  This is the real work of Practice – to have a relationship with our pain, difficulty and hardship.

Yoga Sutras points out 5 Kleshas, mental emotional afflictions we all will struggle with; 

• Avidya – Ignorance,
• Asmita – Egotism, 
• Raga – Attachment, 
• Dvesa – Avoidance, 
• Abinivesha – Fear of loss, change and death

Yoga Sutra 1:31 states the 4 symptoms of suffering observed in practice manifests as

• Negative thinking
• Emotional distress
• Instability in the body
• Disturbances in the breath that mirror the mind

The solution is Yoga Sutra 1.29 says to move inwards and then Yoga Sutra 1.32 to focus on one thing at a time. 

Yoga Sutra 1.33 Cultivate 

• Non-judgemental loving awareness – Upekshanam, 
• Friendliness – Maitri, 
• Joy – Mudito happiness – Sukka
• Compassion – Karuna

Loving kindness and friendliness towards what arises in our practice, a compassion and equanimity in body, energy and mind as we observe life’s events and not being drawn into judgement or contempt towards ourselves as well as others.

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Action in Sanskrit is Karma. Karma carries the notion the fruit of your actions, comes back to you, you can’t escape the consequence of your actions. There is always a cause and effect, for every action has a reaction, for every choice has a consequence. The cause behind your current situation is your past Karma. This way of practice is seeing that life is not just happening to you, it is happening for you. That your’e a sum total of all your choices and actions. That your current life is a continuation of the past. 

Our opportunity in any given moment is to be mindful of what is (Cit Shakti) listen to our innate wisdom (Jnana Shakti), tap into the resource of energy we have (Iccha Shakti) to make better choices to serve our intention, purpose, desires that lead us closer to spirit, our truth and lasting fulfilment in our lived experience and it is said to have an impact on the quality of our future and future lives.

Hatha Yoga becomes a creative, dynamic activity that you can refine the physical, energetic and mental bodies and gain the ability to spontaneously manoeuvre without hesitation to take make things happen. We discover, in this practice, that to accomplish one’s intentions there has to be effort, practice and exertion, empowered by loving-awareness which is said to be our true nature. 

3 Types of Karma

• Prarabhda Karma – Active Karma
• Sanchita Karma – Dormant Karma
• Kriyamana Karma – Potential Karma

You as the Yogi is likened to the Archer. To be a good archer, one needs to practice over and over again refining the skill in making bow and arrows, storing them, choosing the right arrow for the job and aiming then releasing them to the target. Your mindset, posture and what is motivating you all has a place in how skilful you take action to shoot your arrow or not.

Prarabhda Karma is Active Karma likened to the arrow in the bow, the arrows that are in flight and the arrows that either have missed or hit the target. Some of these arrows were released in previous life times as it is the Karma you need to resolve in this lifetime, some of these arrows are of those of your family’s Karma and most are of all the choices you have taken. Some of these arrows miss their target and it is our job to rectify and make amends of the fallout to our poor aim. Some hit the target and fulfils that life affirming purpose.

Sancitta Karma is Dormant Karma. This is represented by the different arrows stored in our quiver of the many different ages in which we have learned how to react or respond to life. 

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