Newsletter

22-01-24

Happy New Year!

It’s never too late to wish you all a Happy New Year! May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be your authentic self and listen to your heart’s calling.

I am so pleased to be back teaching and I’m surprised the classes have been full or close to full in the first week back. It speaks to your commitment to your practice, which is wonderful. I hope we all thrive together in our knowledge of yoga throughout the year. May we become authentic and move towards inner peace. 

Yoga offers a way to inner peace in the form of short verses called Sutra-s. Through learning and understanding the Sutra-s one can attain wisdom, self-realization and inner peace. In total there are 195 or 196 Sutra-s which were codified by the great sage Patanjali. But it is said that living your life just by one Sutra may be enough to gain inner peace and wisdom. In this newsletter I would like to share the first four Sutra-s, 1.1 - 1.4 followed by commentary.

1.1             Here is the instructions about Yoga

1.2             Yoga is the pacification, concentration and complete focus of the mind’s fluctuating activities.

“Yoga is stopping the mind from becoming involved in activities that distract one from a chosen direction”. – TKV Desikachar

Thereby “towards a state of harmony, clarity and total awareness. At the highest level all fluctuations have stopped”. Frans Moors

1.3             Then, the Seer, (witness/internal observer), is established in its True Nature.

When we are in that ‘state’, we see things as they ‘truly are’ and abide in our True Nature.

1.4             In other circumstances, (the Internal Observer) is identical in the form to the mind’s fluctuation.

At other times, (when we are not in this state), the mind is taken over by fluctuations, (thoughts of the mind). The mind becomes clouded, unable to see clearly.  The mind identifies with the thoughts, (believing them to be true). In this non- Yogic state painful consequences can derive.

Contemplation:

1.      Can you think of a time when your thoughts ran wild; you imagined things that were inaccurate and this led to a disturbance, perhaps worry, anger or disappointment?  Now imagine what the same situation would have been like if you were in a state of Yoga with a clear mind. Would the outcome have been different?

2.      How many times throughout the day could you apply this contemplation from the simplest to the more complex situation?

Wishing you well for 2025!

Namaste

Mary