An excerpt from “The Power of Ashtanga Yoga II” by Kino MacGregor:
“The daily practice of Ashtanga Yoga combined with the deep breathing based on the Ujjayi Pranayama (Victorious Breath), equates to both strength training and cardiovascular exercise. But to engage in Ashtanga Yoga with the specific aim of getting a good workout is missing the true goal of the practice--unless what you intend to “workout” is the power of your mind.
Tapas is a Sanskrit word for the austerities undertaken by spiritual practitioners for the sake of furthering their development. For the contemporary Ashtanga Yoga student, tapas can be understood as the pain that leads to purification. However, this is not merely the muscular burn you feel in certain postures. While the muscles do need to strengthen and you can expect to feel some burning sensations, the true burn is the inner spiritual fire that breaks through old habit patterns of the mind. The Sanskrit word for the impressions left on the field of the mind is samskaras. These aggregate and form larger behavioral patterns that are called vasanas. The deeper aim of Ashtanga Yoga is to burn through the negative behavioral patterns and reveal the truth of the inner being. When tapas enter the higher consciousness, the result is the light of spiritual awakening, known as viveka, or wisdom. This wisdom is the lamp of knowledge that illuminates the journey within. While physical poses are a tool toward this end, the inner awakening is the true purpose of yoga practice.”
yogāṅgānuṣṭhānād aśuddhikṣaye jñānadīptir ā vivekakhyāteḥ || 2.28 ||
From the practice of the auxiliaries of yoga (the 8 limbs of ashtanga), upon the destruction of impurities, the lamp of gnosis [arises] until discriminative discernment.
- Seth Powell, Yogic Studies
Tapas comes in all shapes and sizes: I didn’t sleep well last night, I’m not a morning person, my body is stiff in the mornings, I’d have to get up at 4:30, I’m sore from yesterday’s practice, I live on the other side of town, I have a sprained ankle, I don’t have enough time, and on it goes…. Each one of these hurdles may very well be grounded in some level of truth and therefore there is effort required to work around them - to make the necessary adjustments to overcome them and get on the mat. That effort has to be exerted in a direction opposite to or against the immediate flow of the thinking mind. One literally has to go inside and replace those thoughts with thoughts in the opposite direction. This creates an internal friction, friction creates heat, heat stokes a flame and the flame burns up the pattern that is keeping you off the mat. If one can see the value in showing up, and can repeatedly make this effort, the height of the flame necessary withers over time and a new pattern takes hold. You have transformed the energy of “I can’t, I don’t wanna” into the power of “I can, I am, and I will!”.
vitarkabādhane pratipakṣabhāvanam || 2.33 ||
When there is affliction from negative thoughts, cultivate counteracting thoughts.
When I started practicing yoga back in 2002 I was in the midst of a transition - a cry of help of sorts. I had been in an unhealthy relationship wherein I allowed myself to be manipulated and abused (physically and emotionally) and I was on the verge of being consumed by drugs and alcohol. I met a man who had been sober for ten years and he took me to yoga. I loved it immediately. It sparked something within that carried forward to this day, but I struggled to commit. I was living in Manhattan and working in New Jersey. It was very easy for me to blame my commute for not making it to the mat. Not to mention that pull the party scene had over me. That said, every time I did get on the mat I felt a sense of peace, a sense of purpose and a knowing that I needed this if I was going to get my life back on track. If I was going to make the life changes I wanted to make I had to practice yoga. So, I started the practice of putting Sutra 2.33 into action. It’s a practice that continues to this day because the samkaras run deep. They will take every opportunity to rear their ugly heads and send us back to the old patterns we’ve worked so hard to manage. It took a few years and even some relationship changes, as I had to sever some of the friendship ties that were pulling me back, but eventually the tapas paid off and the commitment took hold. Now, when I look at the world I know that it’s this internal process of mind work that helped me to see my life’s purpose and to make the radical changes to show up where I am today -- here with you, practicing yoga and tearing down the walls of separation to ensure we all see one another through the lens of love and compassion that resides at our core -- as Kino said, “the true purpose of yoga practice”.
Come practice with Kino at the Shala - Nov 4-6, 2022
https://yogashalanashville.com/events/kino-macgregor-nashville