Zephyr Yoga Podcast

Kleshas are fear based, mental-emotional afflictions that cause persistent distress, pain and suffering. The first Klesha is Avidya, which is our blind spots, our lack of awareness or misapprehension in what we are seeing. Asmita is the second Klesha meaning egotism, the “I – AM – Ness” of the ego falsely identifying by its distorted sense of self seen through Avidya.

It is said that the ego is at the centre of your personality. Without the sense of self, life would be unliveable. We need a healthy ego to live and function. It gives us perspective on experiences and coordinates many daily functions. “I” need to eat, sleep, work, etc. Ego mediates between the consciousness and unconsciousness relearning the internal and external worlds, and the personal and social relationships.

The mental aspect of the ego, according to the Yoga Sutras is called the Ahamkara “I-maker.” I am Zephyr, I am a mother, I am a wife, I am a Yoga Teacher. I am the main character in my story. Now how I write the story depends on my core belief of myself. I am my name, I am the worst or best mother, wife, yoga teacher. Thinking more or less of who I think I am and misidentifying by my label. 

Asmita makes us think we are the limited self, reducing us to our bodies, life experiences, thoughts and emotions. We are what we look like, what we can or can’t do, what we like or don’t like. By our labels such as our name, status, reputation, occupation, accomplishments and failures. That is who we are. This breeds separateness of “myself and OTHERS” and “compare and despair” that grows seeds of self-doubt, insecurity, defensiveness, hypersensitivity, arrogance and intolerance. Reinforcing fear based core beliefs that we are NOT ENOUGH as we are, loveable, smart, capable, successful, flexible, strong, worthy, valuable…enough. Pulling one into a downward shame, guilt and fear spiral.

This distorted unhealthy self then craves attention! It is its nectar. It places itself at the centre of the Universe, the main character in its own story and it loves attention, to win, to have fame and power anything to validate its self-importance. The unhealthy ego displaying behaviour that is ego-centric, self-centred, narcissistic in arrogance, pride, superiority and narrow view point to continue reinforcing the story of ME, MINE and I. 

A healthy ego feels content, not threatened by change, secure in fundamental needs being met, is open, curious, able to listen, to be considerate, compassionate and kind. The ego is very powerful and recognising what is motivating the ego is key to practice. 

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Georg Feuerstein “Yoga is an art and spiritual science of disciplining your body, mind and breath.”

We practice Yoga to form an intimate relationship with the mind and body by shaping the breath. We open to sensation and cultivate the light of insight which in turn stills the mind and body to attain the state of Yoga. In the previous practice, we mapped out a simple practice for complicated people. The complication is that the mind wants to abandon the relationship all of the time. We find it chasing thoughts, avoiding emotions, fantasising about pleasure and entertaining fears. Our practice is to notice when the mind wanders and bring it back to practice. This waking up is highlighting the first Klesha which is Avidya, meaning a lack of awareness or understanding, one’s ignorance, clouded perception or misapprehension. Our Yoga practice is designed to open the veil of ignorance that clouds our perception we see through our mind, energy and body into the truth of all nature and reality. 

There is a term for a Yoga student called the Adhikara. Pointing to the seeker’s journey through the material, energetic and conscious realms. Being competent for deeper understanding, a respect of what is being studied and practicing it in all one’s affairs. Competent studentship in the endeavours of practice in gaining self-knowledge in attaining self-realisation. 

YS 1.20 describes 5 Virtues, Attributes or Essential Ingredients to be the Adhikara – the competent Yogi.

1. Shraddha – Faith, Trust
2. Virya – Courage, Strength 
3. Smirti – That which is remembered, Memory
4. Samadhi – Absorption, Collect, Concentrated 
5. Prajna – Illumination of Consciousness, Direct Insight, Light of Knowledge

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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.

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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 us most?

An intention, whether it is a New Year’s intention or a daily intention you set as a commitment to your care in every gesture, grace of movement, sensation, emotion and thought. This act of honouring a deep desire, listening to your soul’s longing. 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. I always sense this act of creating an intention is like planting a fruit tree seed. 

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atha yoga anushasanam – The first Yoga Sutra. Now begins the instruction of the practice of Yoga.

Now, Now and Now…We get to begin again. With confidence and authority Patanjali suggests, within the Yoga Sutras, a practical format to guide students into the quest to discover the nature of the mind, the nature of Self, the relationship with consciousness embodied and the path to liberation. This path of Yoga is to find your way of clearing the lens of perception so we can be fully present and engaged in the HERE and NOW. 

5 Essential Ingredients to being a Yogi : Shraddha, Virya, Smriti, Samadhi, Prajna

Listen deeply to your innate wisdom. Buddhi will guide you through regular practice learning over and over again how to skilfully use the techniques to navigate our humanity, finding our middle path that fulfils our soul’s purpose, our calling in this life time. This prepares us to take wise action in our lives by shaping, refining and devoting time with intention. All the while preparing us for liberation from that which causes pain and suffering. 

Karma means action – our active, dormant and potential choices. Karma carries the notion that, the fruits of your actions comes back to you, that you can’t escape the consequence of your actions. This suggests that your current situation is said to be your past Karma. That you are a sum total of all your previous actions, choices and experiences. For every action there is a reaction, for every choice there is a consequence. Our current life is a continuation of the past. Our objective to practice is to be mindful of our actions in each moment, to make better choices to serve our greater purpose, to fulfil our deeper intentions that lead us closer to understand the nature of mind, the Self, and the relationship to consciousness embodied as us. 

We get the gift of each new day to begin again. Now we practice having an intimate relationship with the body, energy and mind honouring whatever intention for this practice that arises to guide us to closer to lasting fulfilment, contentment and liberation. 

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In our practice it is important to connect to our Prana – Vital Energy, Life Force that is intelligent, healing and inspiring. It is filled with boundless energy and power. Increasing Prana in our practice creates Agni – Fire, to burn bright and hot. This is the desired experience of creating heat for positive change called Tapas. What we put in the fire receives this Prana, the Agni transforms it opening opportunities and possibilities of manifesting your true desires, your soul’s longing.

The Buddhist teaching on the 4 Vessels becomes useful as we liken it to ourselves, how we sculpt ourselves in practice, put ourselves into the fire and as a result we have a useful vessel to do our life well. This teaching is a symbolic representation that describes the human systems and the different challenges we face. A vessel suggests it holds or stores something, in this case your body contains your soul, subtle experiences and everything you receive.

Closed Vessels a pot that has no opening, suggesting that it can’t receive anything. It is closed off to all. I am sure most of us can relate to this as at one point in our live’s we have shut down and shut out to protect and avoid the possibility of pain and suffering. However, as we close to what causes us pain we also close to that which brings joy. This image of a closed vessel give us a better understanding when we don’t want to communicated, listen or look at source of problem as we are imprisoned within ourselves. 

Tilted Vessels a pot that is mis-shaped, so one can’t fill it to maximum capacity. This is the understanding that our physical, energetic or mental body might not be able to see beyond it’s limited beliefs that distort the perspective and keep it attached to the smallness of self. This becomes a crutch of blaming ourselves and others for the lack we feel in our lives and the tilted view point of ourselves and the reasons we can’t hold more.

Dirty Vessel is a container that has dirt in it, this dirt is a symbolic depiction of our prior conditioning, how our past negative experiences, impression we call samskaras influence the current perception of life, our emotional state and how we behave motivated by the negative dirt stuck in us, which interferes with the ability to see, think and act clearly as it corrupts and contaminates even the Joyous moments of our lives, the toxicity of unresolved stuff prevents us really celebrating our lives.

Leaky Vessel suggests that there are cracks that prevent us from holding, utilising and or being effective. We can hear and receive, knowing it’s importance and have good intentions…but get distracted easily and it dissipates our energy, vitality and we waste our time on things that distract us that might not be helpful or useful. 

(Stage 1) Self-Awareness brings our attention to contemplate and understand maybe today which vessel we relate to more. Coming to accept what is, then empowering ourselves to use our practice to heal, sooth, reshape our bodies, energy and mind to transform our present state to optimise our fullest potential. To celebrate, be radiant, to thrive in our lives regardless of what is going on. 

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To be or go beyond the range or limits of, to surpass…not bypass this human experience, but embrace our humanity and reclaim our power to go beyond, to rise above our stuff, to cut across karmic ties, to excel and share our unique insight, gifts, talents and skills, to leave behind that which doesn’t serve us and outshine our core false beliefs of ourselves. This is the essence of transcendence.

All of the light of our intelligence, Prajna, and the innate wisdom, Buddhi, go through the first 5 stages of Yoga (1.) Self-Awareness, (2.) Understanding, (3.) Acceptance, (4.) Discipline and (5.) Actualisation, to go beyond the limited Self, beliefs and karma.

This suggested method of working through these stages gives a clear path to liberation.

First we become self-aware, awake, mindful.

Second we identify and understand what triggers us, how we habitually react and delay the gratification and pause checking in with a set intention to practice and even a greater intention aligned to our dharma and commit to reinforce this intention as we move forward into our lives. This understanding of what you need forms a relationship to the Self as you connect with your inner intelligence, Prajna and innate wisdom, Buddhi. This connection will motivate you to approach what is arising in any given moment with a clearer path to find lasting fulfilment, contentment and even liberation from that which is causing you suffering

Third from a calmer place that is less reactive, we expand our viewpoint, empower ourselves to take responsibility for our part in what is arising and recognise our choices With awareness and understanding we can recognise what is motivating us, is it our shadow self or our light? Is it negativity or positivity? With this there is an admission of acceptance of what is as we practice cultivating loving awareness, friendliness, joy and compassion in practice YS 1.33, we embrace our humanity, forgive ourselves as we are perfectly imperfect as we see that our mistakes are our greatest teachers and emphasise self-love as we accept ourselves, our lives and what is just as it is. This establishes a sacred space where we can contently abide. 

Fourth, this then empowers us to re-engage with our intention, access the unlimited resource of energy to fuel us to take wise actions to show up in our lives and to live to our fullest potential as we are connected to our unique purpose of embodiment. 

We then enter the 6th stage of Yoga, Self-Transcendence, that we go beyond our limiting beliefs of ourselves, others and the life around us. We heal, transform old ways and surpass lessons we brought with us into this lifetime and even the ones we acquired as a result of being embodied as a human. Entering this stage where we outshine the past and receive an evolutionary upgrade so our causal body can move closer to its true desire: to be liberated from re-birth.

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This is where personal potential is fully realised after basic bodily and ego needs have been Self-Fulfilment. This means that there is full realisation of one’s potential and of one’s true self. Ultimately, it is said what you truly are is pure consciousness embodied.

Spanda or vibration of the movement or wave of consciousness – physical essence of consciousness

Our practice is to attend to this pulse of consciousness and to the principle of Spanda expressing it’s self through you as you. Spanda is the joyful impulse to create harmony and enjoy life. We practice wakefully as we take action, aware of the insight of the nature of consciousness embodied as form, expressing itself creatively. Open to grace in every moment, there is no distinction between the spiritual and the mundane, everything is a teacher expressing itself as Spanda, through you, as you and working with you and for you to wake you up to its presence in everything. 

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We as the competent students of Yoga (Adhikaras) devote and dedicate our time to a practice regularly and honour the teachings by adhering to the suggested path essential to achieving the desired State of YOGA! According to the Yoga Sutras 2.29, to practice Yoga the student follows the 8 limbed path. 

8 Limbs of Yoga

1. Yamas 2. Niyamas 3. Asana 4. Pranayama 5. Pratyahara 6. Dharana 7. Dhyana 8. Samadhi

This is what is suggested as practice Self-Awareness, Understanding, Acceptance and then Discipline to become Self – Actualised, to Self-Transcend and Self-Transform as a liberated causal experience from rebirth which is called Kaivalya. Most of us will be dancing through the first 4 stages most of our life, however there may come a point where there is an unfolding into the further stages, but until then we practice. 

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We tend to fight against fear, guilt, shame, anger, sorrow. We tend to resist what we perceive as negativity or things we don’t like, situations that create a change we feel may cause dis-ease or an undesirable outcome. This consumes so much energy and brain space, ruling our lives from a place of fear base beliefs. There is a slogan that states what we resist, persists. Creating a tug-a-war with our aversion to pain we call in yoga Dvesa, one of the mental emotional afflictions called the Kleshas. Peace comes when we can accept we have no power over people, places, things and situations we cannot change or control.

Serenity Prayer: 

God grant me the serenity

to accept the thing I cannot change, 

the courage to change the things I can 

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Acceptance opens the door to learning. To approach practice with a beginners mind, to be open to receive what needs to be seen, experienced and felt, then to deeply understand in a supportive practice allowing the loving space you create to assist your growth. Life is always changing, there is always some new situation, person that brings stuff up in ourselves which becomes an opportunity to practice self-awareness (dissolving Avidya), understanding (dissolving Asmita) and then to gift ourselves a tender space to feel those old and new roots that get triggers we find an ability to accept (dissolving Dvesa) empowering ourselves to make wiser decisions to best navigate our lives with Grace. This is the next stage of Yoga to take wise action in a disciplined practice shaping our Karma (choices, actions)

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

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