The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards by William J. Broad

This book came out in 2012.  I had read the New York Times review of the book and never wanted to read any more.  I think I was afraid that, by listing all of the risks, the book would ruin all the things I loved about yoga.  But I have to remind myself that the book also lists the rewards, too.

When my friend and mentor, Mel Robin, was downsizing and moving out of his house, he invited me to come over and take some of his vast book collection.  The Science of Yoga was one of the books I took.  It sat on my shelf for a while until I recently decided to pick it up.  In the prologue of the book, it mentioned MelRobin.  Well, that piqued my interest! I also saw that the author used Mel’s extensive work on the science of yoga as are source for his book.  It was this connection that caused me to commit to calling Mel up to make a lunch date.  And that is when I discovered that he had just passed away.

What we in the west have come to practice and know as yoga is very different from its ancient roots.  Read along with me to discover those ancient roots (some of which may surprise you!) and see what science can tell us about this ancient and ever evolving practice.

Ego and the Current State of Humanity

Words, Tolle points out, no matter whether they are vocalized and made into sounds or remain unspoken as thoughts, can cast an almost hypnotic spell on you.  You can easily lose yourself in them, become hypnotized into implicitly believing that when you have attached a word to something, you know what it is.  The fact is: You don’t know what it is.  You have only covered up the mystery with a label.  Everything, a bird, a tree, even a simple stone and certainly a human being, is ultimately unknowable.  This is because it has unfathomable depth. All we can perceive, experience, think about, is the surface layer of reality, less than the tip of an iceberg.

Words help create form.  Ego is always identification with form, seeking yourself and thereby losing yourself in some form.  Forms could be material objects, but they could also be the forms of thought that continuously arise in the field of consciousness.  The following list are some examples some of the forms that we identify with.

Words and labeling – allow us to pretend we know something because we have identified it and attached a label to it.  It fits into our preconceived idea of what it is.  It allows us to not dig any deeper.

Possessive pronouns.  Once we attach the words: I, me and mine to anything, it becomes a part of who we think we are and shores up our ego.  If something happens to our stuff, we suffer because our stuff is an extension of ourselves.

The voices in our head.  Often we confuse the thoughts swirling around in our heads with who we are.  This coincides with the Cartesian idea of “I think, therefore I am.”  But, Jean Paul Sartre had the insight, long after the yogis did, that the consciousness that says “I am” is not the consciousness that thinks.  The only truth is that “I Am.”  If you identify with the thoughts in your head, you are lost in ego.  If you realize that you are not your thoughts, you are beginning enter into a new state of consciousness.

Identification with things and wanting more– Our ego often gets caught up in the identification with things.  The ego sees the car we drive or the clothes we wear, or the house we live in as a definition of who we are.  This identification with things can lead to wanting more as the newness of things wears off, or others acquire things that we think we should have.

Identification with the body.  The body is another symbol of impermanence.  What happens when youth, good looks and athletic prowess fade?  Who are we then?

The illusion of ownership – having vs. being.  The ego identifies having with Being.  I have, therefore I am.  But our satisfaction with having is relatively shallow and short-lived.  Concealed within it remains a deep-seated sense of dissatisfaction, of incompleteness, of “not enough”.  “I don’t have enough, yet.” By which the ego really means, “I am not enough, yet.”  We all know that expression, “You can’t take it with you.”  So what does it mean to really own something?  And if we lose what we own, are we diminished in any way?

Awakening can arise out of a sense of Being

Being.  Feeling the inner body or life energy = being.  Body awareness , not body identification, not only anchors you in the present moment, it is a doorway out of the prison that is the ego.  It also strengthens the immune system and the body’s ability to heal itself.  Body awareness is feeling the life force in your body.  Feeling that life force and that part of you that is aware that you are aware, is one of the first steps towards Being and Awakening.

Awakening can often happen after a sense of loss.

When forms that you had identified with, that gave you a sense of self, collapse or are taken away, it can lead to a collapse of the ego, since ego is identification with form.  When there is nothing left to identify with anymore, who are you?  When forms around you die or death approaches, you sense of Beingness, of I Am, is freed from its entanglement with form.  Spirit is released from its imprisonment with matter.  You realize your essential identity as formless, as an all-pervasive Presence, of Being prior to all forms, all identifications.  You realize your true identity as consciousness itself, rather than what consciousness had identified with.  That’s the peace of God.  The ultimate truth of who you are is not I am this or I am that, but I am.

Loss can cause an awakening, a dis-identification with form. However, it is also possible to create a strong attachment to being a victim of loss which can create a new contracted and more rigid form of ego.  Whenever loss occurs, you either resist it or you yield.  Some people become bitter or deeply resentful; others become compassionate, wise and loving.  Yielding means inner acceptance of what is. You are open to life.  Resistance is an inner contraction, a hardening of the shell of the ego.  You are closed.  Whatever action you take in a state of inner resistance (negativity) will create more outer resistance and the universe will not be on your side; life will not be helpful.  When you yield internally, when you surrender, a new dimension of consciousness opens up. If action is possible or necessary, your action will be in alignment with the whole and supported by creative intelligence, the unconditioned consciousness which in a state of inner openness you become one with.  Circumstances and people become helpful, cooperative.  Coincidences happen.  If no action is possible, you rest in the peace and inner stillness that come with surrender.  You rest in God.

Our Inherited Dysfunction

From the Yoga Sutras:

Atha yoganusanam Y.S. I.1
With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga.

Yogah cittavrtti nirodhah Y.S. I.2
Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.

Tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam Y.S. I.3
Then, the seer dwells in his own true splendor.

Vrtti sarupyam itaratra Y.S. I.4
At other times the seer identifies with the fluctuating consciousness.

In A New Earth, Tolle explains a core insight that is common to most ancient religions and spiritual traditions. That is the idea of a basic problem or dysfunction of the human mind. (see Y.S. I.4 above)

In the yogic texts of Hinduism this problem is referred to as maya, or the veil of delusion. I often talk about this in class. It comes from the Yoga Sutras and describes the kleshas, or the five afflictions of the mind. These are the citta vrttis of the mind from Y.S. I.2 above. The first, and most important of these is avidya, or not seeing things clearly.

Avidya asmita raga dvesha abhinivesha klesha. Y.S. II.3
Avidya – ignorance
asmita – self-centeredness
raga – attachment
dvesha – aversion
abhinivesha –fear of death
klesha – afflictions, impediments, obstacles

The five afflictions which disturb the equilibrium of consciousness are: ignorance or lack of wisdom, ego, pride of the ego or the sense of “I”, attachment to pleasure, aversion to pain, fear of death and clinging to life.

In Buddhism this fundamental problem is referred to as suffering, or dukkha. The important thing to remember about dukkha is that it will manifest in every situation, good or bad, sooner or later.

According to Christian teachings, there is the idea that we are all born with an “original sin” (fundamental problem). Over time the word has come to mean that we did something that was bad, and maybe on purpose. But Tolle points out that the original meaning of the word, from the ancient Greek, in which the New Testament was written, means to miss the mark, or to miss the point. It means to live unskillfully and thus to cause suffering.

Tolle points out a lot of suffering in the world is caused by this first delusion. He calls this the bad news. This first problem is the cause of destructive, cruel wars motivated by fear, greed and the desire for power which have been common occurrences throughout human history, as have slavery, torture and widespread violence inflicted for religious and ideological reasons. As you can see from the sutra above that the rest of the kleshas follow from the first. You cannot eradicate the other four without acknowledging the first.

Often we are unaware of these states in ourselves or others. We cannot see when we are motivated by fear, greed or the desire for power. We are simply aware that we are suffering.  These are symptoms of the inner dysfunction that every human carries within: the ego, which is the second klesha.

The second core insight in A New Earth is the good news. And that is that our normal state of mind can be transcended. In Hinduism this is called enlightenment, in Christianity it is called salvation and it is the end of suffering in Buddhism. Liberation and awakening are two other terms used to describe this process. This is the promise of Y.S. I.3 above.

In the past, there were a few enlightened beings that emerged: Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu. They have sown the seeds for future people to awaken from the dysfunction of their minds. The world was not yet ready for these teachings, although they were a vital and necessary part of human awakening. Their teachings, over time, became distorted and misinterpreted. Many things were added that had nothing to do with the original teachings, but were reflections of a fundamental misunderstanding. Teachings that pointed the way beyond the dysfunction of the human mind, the way out of the collective insanity , were distorted and became part of the insanity itself.

Tolle’s book teaches us the way out of that insanity. He describes how the title of his book came from a reference from the Bible that appears in both the Old Testament (Isaiah 65:17) and the New Testament (Revelation 21:1) which describes the collapse of the existing world order and the arising of “a new heaven and a new earth”. He points out that heaven is not meant as a location but refers to the realm of the inner consciousness. Earth is an outer manifestation of form, which is always a reflection of the inner.

The way out of that insanity is to understand the second Yoga Sutra; to be able to see clearly the fluctuations of the mind and to recognize the dysfunction that every human being carries within: the ego.

The Flowering of Human Consciousness

In A New Earth, Ekhart Tolle describes how a flower could be said to be the enlightened stage of growth for a plant.  That the stage of flowering in  a plant’s life cycle implies a discontinuity of development, a leap to an entirely new state of being and, most important, a lessening of materiality.  He suggests that flowers play an essential part in the evolution of human consciousness.  Seeing beauty in a flower could awaken humans, however briefly to the beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their true nature.

The Buddha is said to have given a silent sermon once where he held up a flower and gazed at it.  After a while, one of those present, a monk called Mahakasyapa, began to smile.  He is said to be the only one who understood the sermon.  According to legend, that smile (realization) was handed down to 28 successive masters and much later became the origin of Zen.

Tolle also describes how  the transformation of a rock to a crystal and the evolutionary process that enabled some reptiles to grow feathers and take flight as stages of enlightenment. Flowers, crystals and birds have held special significance for humans.  This can be attributed to their beautiful and ethereal quality.  We can discern some sort of divine Presence in these special forms.

People have often meditated on flowers, crystals and birds, using them as a window into the formless realm of spirit.  These enlightened forms have played an important part in the evolution of human consciousness.  Think about it: the jewel in the lotus flower is a symbol of Buddhism, and a white dove signifies the Holy Spirit in Christianity.

In this book, Eckhart Tolle asks the following questions:  Are we ready for a transformation of consciousness, an inner flowering so radical and profound that compared to the flowering of plants, no matter how beautiful, is only a pale reflection?  Can human beings lose the density of their conditioned mind structures and become like crystals or precious stones, transparent to the light of consciousness?  Can they defy the gravitational pull of materialism and rise above identification with form that keeps the ego in place and condemns them to imprisonment within their own personality?  But then he describes the necessary stages and steps we can take towards awakening.  Although the journey is simple, it isn’t easy.  But don’t let that discourage you.  The process is much like the opening of a flower; it is slow, but progressive.  No progress on the path is ever lost.  The possibility of awakening is available to all of us.  As he says in his book:  “If you are reading this, you are already on the journey.”

Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the best known and important texts of Indian literature. The words of the title mean “Song of the Lord”.  The teachings of the Gita are presented in the form of a dialogue between Sri Krishna, whom the Hindus regard as the Lord Himself and Arjuna; a warrior, an archer, the leader of the Pandavas who are in a battle against their cousins the Kurus for control of a kingdom.  Arjuna is the good guy and the bad guys are the blind King Dhrtarastra and his hundred sons.

“The Gita can be read as history, but it lends itself to being an allegory.  In this mode, Arjuna represents the individual soul and Sri Krishna the Supreme Soul that dwells in every heart.  Arjuna’s chariot is the body.  The blind king Dhrtarastra is the mind under the spell of maya, or ignorance, and his hundred sons are man’s numerous evil tendencies.  The battle is an eternal one that is always going on between the powers of good and the powers of evil.  The warrior who listens to the advice of the Lord speaking from within will triumph in this battle and attain the Highest Good.”  From the foreword of the Bhagavad Gita as translated by Winthrop Sargeant.

The following verses contain one of the main teachings of the Bhagavad Gita: (Stephen Mitchell version)

You have a right to your actions
but never to your actions fruits
Act for the action’s sake
And do not be attached to inaction

Self-possessed, resolute, act
without any thoughts of results
open to success or failure
This equanimity is yoga.

Action is far inferior
to the yoga of insight, Arjuna.
Pitiful are those who, acting,
are attached to their actions fruits.

The wise man lets go of all
results, whether good or bad,
and is focused on the action alone.
Yoga is skill in actions.  (B.G. II.47 – 50)

Since Arjuna is an archer, the following lesson from is an appropriate follow up.  One of Arjuna’s concerns that we all share is wanting to know the outcome.  What if I win?  What if I lose?  Krrisna’s teaching above is reflected in the wisdom of The Way of Chuang Tzu, as translated by Thomas Merton

The Need to Win

When the archer shoots his arrow for nothing, he has all his skill.
When he shoots for a Blue Ribbon, he is already nervous.
When he shoots for a prize of gold, he goes blind and sees two targets.  He is out of his mind; his skill has not changed, but the prize divides him - he cares.  He thinks more of winning than of shooting, and the need to win drains him of all his power.

Education and The Spiritual Journey

“Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transform the person who sees.” B.K.S. Iyengar

I recently listened to (and thought you might enjoy) Terry Gross’ interview with Barbara Brown Taylor on Fresh Air this past week. Ms. Taylor is an ordained Episcopal priest who left her job as rector of a church to become a professor of religion. Barbara Taylor has written several books on religion and spirituality including: An Altar In the World, Learning to Walk in the Dark, Leaving Church and her memoir titled Holy Envy.

As a professor of religion, Taylor said that she “hoped it would be a way to convince {the students} that they could find things they liked about other traditions, and it would not make them disloyal to their own.” She said that it worked most of the time.

Taylor writes about how teaching the different religions changed her student’s understanding of faith, as well as her own. She was asked if she was concerned about shaking the faith of her students. She answered: I think that education does that – whatever the subject matter. So, yes, I did feel as if in the field of religion I was in the business of making misfits, who would never quite fit the same way in their faith communities, their families. Then I started talking to colleagues in other fields and they said, “Yeah, that’s what we do at college, it’s that people grow and change and don’t fit where they used to.’”

Education does that – whatever the subject matter – and yoga is just a different subject.

In Zen Buddhism, this process of education, or moving towards enlightenment is represented by the 10 Bull Pictures.

In psychology, a similar learning curve is depicted by The Four Stages of Competence.

In the beginning we are Consciously Incompetent. This is the ignorance is bliss stage. We don’t know what we don’t know. The second stage is Conscious Incompetence. We know our arms are bent, but we aren’t able to straighten them. This can be a little frustrating. Then there might be a breakthrough and if we really concentrate, we can straighten our arms. This stage is called Conscious Competence. Finally through perfect practice we may enter into the state of Unconscious Competence where we don’t have to think about it, we know our arms are straight.

Another book you might enjoy in this same vein is Educated by Tara Westover. Ms. Westover wasn’t your garden variety college student. When the Holocaust was mentioned in a history class, she didn’t know what it was (no, really). That’s because she didn’t see the inside of a classroom until the age of seventeen. Public education was one of the many things her religious fanatic father was dubious of, believing it a means for the government to brainwash its gullible citizens, and her mother wasn’t diligent on the homeschooling front. If it wasn’t for a brother who managed to extricate himself from their isolated—and often dangerous--world, Westover might still be in rural Idaho, trying to survive her survivalist upbringing. It’s a miraculous story she tells in her memoir Educated. For those of us who took our educations for granted, who occasionally fell asleep in large lecture halls (and inconveniently small ones), it’s hard to grasp the level of grit—not to mention intellect—required to pull off what Westover did. But eventually earning a PhD from Cambridge University may have been the easy part, at least compared to what she had to sacrifice to attain it. The courage it took to make that sacrifice was the truest indicator of how far she’d come, and how much she’d learned. Educated is an inspiring reminder that knowledge is, indeed, power. --Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book

Can't Do Boat Pose?

Modifications for Navasana

In the book How Yoga Works, Miss Friday notices that the Captain skips doing Boat Pose in his practice.  When she asks him about it he says the pose is not for him because it hurts his back.  She lets him know that he needs to do all of the poses that she taught him and that each pose has its benefits.  Leaving out the poses we don’t like simply reinforces our imbalances and the duality that our preferences create.  Often the poses we most want to avoid because we can’t do them or they are uncomfortable are the very ones we need to do.

She quotes from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras to him: And then there will come a time when differences (attachment and aversion) no longer disturb you.  Y.S. II.48

However, we shouldn’t just push through pain to do a pose.  It is possible to find a manageable variation for everybody in any pose.

If you find Navasana to be a challenging pose to do, here are a couple of good variations that you can practice.

Full Boat using the arms for support

Full Boat with bent knees and hands on (or off of) the floor

Half Boat, one foot on the floor and using one arm for support

Full Boat using a belt for support

Try any one of these variations, or even combinations of the variations that I haven't pictured, and see if you can make any improvements in your Boat Pose.  Feel free to play and find something you can do!

“So no more faces when you come into a pose that’s hard for you.  The hard ones are usually doing you and your back the most good.  Don’t give in to preferences; don’t create more differences in your life.  It’s the differences that harass us all day long that make our days unhappy.  I like this, I don’t like that.  I like her, I don’t like him.  I don’t want to do this thing I have to do, I’d rather do that thing I want to do.”  (I’m tired of this cold weather and snow already, I’d like it to be 30 degrees warmer!)  Miss Friday to the Captain in How Yoga Works.  (Except the part about the weather,  that’s me!)

Chanting the Sanskrit Alphabet

Chanting the Sanskrit Alphabet

This month we will be learning the Sanskrit alphabet. Chanting the Sanskrit Alphabet is much more than learning the letters and the sounds. Each letter represents a petal in one of our chakras. Chanting the alphabet can open our chakras.

We start by chanting the vowels and then move through the consonants.  The consonants are grouped by how they are pronounced.  The gutturals are created in the back of the throat.  The palatals are created in the upprer palate.  The cerebrals are created by curling the tongue back and touching the tip of it to the roof of the mouth.  The dentals are created with the tongue touching the teeth and the labials are created with the lips.

Listen to Nicolai Bachman, who wrote The Language of Yoga,  chant the alphabet here:

Each letter stimulates a petal in one of the chakras:

The throat chakra

The heart chakra

The solar chakra

The pelvic chakra

The root chakra

The third eye