Chapters : Yogi, yogini ; Brahman & Atman ; Chitta Vritti ; Asana ; Pratyaya ; Pranayama ; Pranas ; Vinyasa ; Kriya Yoga ; Kleshas
Both the meaning and the goal of Yoga is Union :
Union of the mind and the body
Union of Atman (individual soul) and Brahman (Universal Soul).
YOGI, YOGINI
A male yoga practitioner is called a yogi, and a female yoga practitioner is called a yogini.
BRAHMAN & ATMAN
The notion of Brahman & Atman were brought to us by the Upanishads (Upaniṣad उपनिषद्), which are religious texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit and commonly referred to as Vedanta (Vedānta वेदान्त), which are the last chapters of the Vedas (Veda वेद), which are the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and oldest scriptures of Hinduism.
Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) is the most ancient known name for God. It is the reality that constitutes all things ; The Universal Soul. Brahman is like the Ocean.
Atman (Ātman आत्मन्) is the extension of that reality ; An individualised unit of consciousness emanating from Brahman ; The individual Soul. Atman is like the waves of the Ocean.
The ocean (Brahman) and the waves (Atman) are one... but while the ocean can exist without the waves, the waves can not exist without the ocean.
CHITTA VRITTI
In the second Sutra (Sūtra सूत्र) of the Book One of the Yoga Sutras (YS I:2), Patanjali describes Yoga as :
Yogash Chitta Vritti Nirodhah (Yogaś Citta Vr̥tti Nirodhaḥ योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः) :
"Yoga is the cessation of all fluctuations of the mind".
Chitta (Citta चित्त) : Mind ; Mind-stuff ; Mind field ; Lake-mind ; Consciousness ; Memory : Subconscious
Vritti (Vr̥tti वृत्ति) : Fluctuations ; Mental state ; Mental activity ; Modification ; Mood ; Behaviour ; Thoughts ; Ripples ; Waves ; Whirlpool
Nirodha (Nirodha निरोध) : Cessation ; Restraint ; Suppression ; Destruction ; Neutralisation ; Control ; Elimination
Other very important term to understand the metaphor below :
Swami Vivekananda explains the notion of Chitta Vritti with the metaphor of a lake :
If the water on the surface of a lake (Chitta) is agitated with ripples, waves, and whirlpools (Vritti), the bottom (Purusha) will not be seen.
But if the lake (Chitta) is calm and there is no agitation (Vritti), then the water of the lake becomes so clear that we can see the bottom (Purusha).
This bottom, which is our Purusha (our True Self) is who we really are, but most of the time, because of our constant thoughts, doubts, fears, expectations, hopes, disappointments, feelings of joy, sadness, love, hate, happiness, anger, etc... , which are the Vrittis of our mind (Chitta), we cannot see who we really are, and think we are defined by our personality and our experiences in life.
Nirodha is the selective elimination of certain particular Vritti. Since our minds are filled with information all the time, practicing Nirodha means that, for example, we might, at a certain point, decide that we don't want to think negatively about situations anymore. In that case, we are willing and ready to be positive in our own world view.
In the Upanishads, a hymn says :
Tam Yogam Iti Manyante Sthiram Indriya Dharanam (Tāṁ Yogamiti Manyante sthirāmindriyadhāraṇām तां योगमिति मन्यन्ते स्थिरामिन्द्रियधारणाम्) :
"Thus, Yoga is considered to be holding still the senses"
Iti (इति) : Thus
Manya (मन्य) : Appearing as ; Considered
Sthira (स्थिर) : Steady ; Solid ; Strong ; Firm ; Motionless ; Immovable ; Still ; Calm ; Undoubted ; Settled ; Certain ; Trustworthy ; Faithful ; Resolute ; Relentless ; Persevering ; Durable ; Lasting
Indriya (इन्द्रिय) : Sense organ (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin)
ASANA
In the forty-sixth Sutra of the Book Two of the Yoga Sutras (II:46), Patanjali describes Yoga as :
Sthira Sukham Asanam (Sthira Sukhamāsanam स्थिर सुखमासनम्) :
"An āsana is a posture that is steady and comfortable."
Sthira (स्थिर) : Steady ; Solid ; Strong ; Firm ; Motionless ; Immovable ; Still ; Calm ; Undoubted ; Settled ; Certain ; Trustworthy ; Faithful ; Resolute ; Relentless ; Persevering ; Durable ; Lasting
Sukha (सुख) : Comfortable ; Gentle ; Agreeable ; Easy ; Happy
PRATYAYA
We perceive things through our organs of perception, and we act upon them through our organs of action. The place where we become aware of those things is in the field of our mind.
The mind is divided into two parts :
Pratyaya is composed of two aspects :
Cognition (mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension, like thinking, knowing, understanding, remembering, judging, problem-solving, speaking, imagining, distinguishing, planning, etc...)
Conation (Motivation ; Willingness to act, or not act, upon the things that we know and understand ; Freedom to make choices ; Mental faculty of purpose, desire, will to perform an action ; Associated with conative issues such as "What are my intentions and goals ? What am I going to do ? What are my plans and commitments ?")
Pratyaya is also called Chitta Vritti by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.
Chitta Vrittis are the impressions and feelings of what we see, hear, remember, like, dislike, want, etc... Since they occur in the conscious mind, we can control them.
After the Chitta Vrittis have come to the conscious mind, they become retained or stored in the subsonscious mind and become Samskaras (retention of Chita Vrittis).
Samskaras are seeds which are going to cause us to measure all of our experiences against new incoming information.
PRANAYAMA
The sense organs are connected with the nervous system. So in order to control the senses, we have to make our nervous system strong. In order to make the nervous system strong, our breathing has to be correct. And for our breathing to be correct, the Asana needs to be correct.
This is why it's good to start with the Asanas, so that we learn to breathe freely within the Asanas. And when our breathing becomes balanced, then the two branches of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems) also become balanced.
Pranayama consists of exercices which will help to balance the nervous system.
PRANAS
The way we cognize things about the world, and the way we act in the world, is driven by Prana. All of our ten Indriyas (sense organs) are driven by Prana.
There are five Pranas (vital airs) within the human body :
Vital energy
Life force
Energetic force which contains all the others
Associated with inhalations and upward movements
Through Prana, nourishment comes in (nourishment can be anything, like food that we eat, oxygen that we breathe, water that we drink, something that we see, something that we smell, an experience, etc...)
Energetic force of assimilation
Assimilates everything taken in by Prana (like absorbing an experience, digesting food, etc...
Energetic force of distribution
The distribution mechanism of what has been assimilated by Samana
Carries all of the different messages (information) of the body, and distributes it through all of the different parts.
Energetic force of expression
Upward moving force
From the heart to the head
Manifests as speech, singing, laughing, hiccup, burp, etc...
VINYASA
Brings all the different parts of us into a state of attention and presence at the same moment.
There are two parts of Vinyasa :
Breathing and movement
Asana Stiti (= the state of the Asana)
The Vinyasas are all the connecting movements which lead us to the Asana Stiti. Through the Vinyasas, we're training our body breath and nervous system to move together in a coherent fashion, and then in the Asana Stiti, we're learning to practice stillness.
This is why it's better not to move too much in a pose (like always trying to go deeper and deeper), but rather to be Sthira (steady) and Sukha (comfortable).
KRIYA YOGA
The Kriyas (actions) we should do to make the obstructions in the field of our mind thinner, and to get calmness and steadiness of the mind, in order to prepare our mind, later, for Samadhi (total absorption), are :
Tapas (तपस्) : Austerity ; Perseverance ; Asceticism ; Pain ; Suffering ; Exposing ourselves purposefully to a challenging situation while keeping our mind calm.
Swadhyaya (Svādhyāya स्वाध्याय) : Repetition of Mantras ; Self-study ; Study of any holly book or sacred text (like the Veda), or any other subject, in order to learn
Ishvara Pranidhana (Īśvarapraṇidhāna ईश्वरप्रणिधान) : Devotion to God (or the unknown) ; Prayer to the Lord (the Supreme Soul) ; Giving up our personal effort because we can not do more, and letting some other force (human, animal, nature, or divine help) carry us along ; Surrendering to God, or the unknown, doesn't mean demanding.
KLESHAS
Klesha (Kleśa क्लेश) which means poison, affliction, anger, pain, suffering, trouble, in Sanskrit, is the negative mental states that block the path to enlightenment.
Overcoming the Kleshas leads to the end of Duḥkha (Duḥkha दुःख) which means suffering, pain, sorrow, misery, grief, distress.
There are five Kleshas :
Avidya (Avidyā अविद्या) : | a = not ; vid = to know | Ignorance of our true Nature ; Absence of knowledge
Asmita (Asmitā अस्मिता) : The narrative we create when we don’t know who we are
Raga (Rāga राग) : Passion ; Interest in ; Sympathy for ; Attachment to what we like, what we’re drawn to, what we find pleasant.
Dwesha (Dveṣa द्वेष) : Repugnance ; Hatred ; Still another form of attachment that we need to let go of (like Raga), because we keep thinking about what we hate or feel repulsed by.
Abhinivesha (abhiniveśa अभिनिवेश) : Determination ; Adherence to ; Fear of death or extinction ; The need to remain alive ; Survival instinct ;Exists primarily in the brain stem, because our brain stem is controlling all of our survival functions (respiration, heart rate, digestion, sexual reproduction, sleep, blood pressure, etc...), and it really doesn't want us to cease to be alive. But really, there's no reason to fear death, because the things that we consider to be us as people, are only Samskaras (impressions), and they are going to take another form. So the yogis, in order to transcend the survival functions and this fear of death stuck in the brain stem, did practices opposite to the brain stem survival functions, like holding their breath in Pranayama, putting themselves in difficult asanas, restricting their caloric intake, fasting, staying awake for extended periods of time, restraining from sexual activity, etc... This is primarily how awareness and consciousness show themselves through our biology (body, breath, mind, nervous system).
