Tag Archive for: Yoga

Ayurveda Daily: The Evening

One of the most important daily routines suggested I did not do at all. It recommended taking a walk alone in a beautiful place for twenty minutes a day to wind down after work. I know how important my connection to nature is, but somehow I neglected this completely. I read right over it several times without it making any impact. Had I done this, I’m sure each and every day would have been better. It’s hard to do particularly at this time of year when it is cold and dark, but I do find walking in nature a meditative practice that is well worth doing anytime, but particularly at the end of the day would be an excellent healthy activity.

It recommended eating dinner then singing songs while doing the dishes. I did this once and it was really fun. In fact, I remember reading this and thinking it was humorous naiveté, but it actually was the reason I chose this section of the book to experiment with, since I found the silly suggestion so entertaining.

To end the day I had a hot milk, ginger, cardamom and turmeric drink before bed. I did this every night and loved it. It was really soothing and I loved chewing the ginger and eating the pod to finish it off. This helped me wind down and was a nice finishing practice before sleep. It also made the whole experiment worthwhile for me as I definitely appreciate a novel and tasty new recipe.

It also had some suggestions about sex, but as I am unfortunately celibate at this time due to a gnarly bout of Singleitis, I didn’t have to stress over these points. I’m glad it mentioned these things though, and when I am well again I would definitely relish a normal schedule of love-making as suggested.

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Ayurveda Daily: Conclusion

In summary, while I was not able to explore Ayurveda as deeply as I wanted to, I did find it worthwhile. Part of what makes it successful to me has less to do with Ayurveda and more to do with resolve and commitment. A major component in a successful experiment is simply sticking it out regardless of the results. This in itself offers ample lessons and rewards. By adopting new routines, and breaking one’s self of ingrained habits—whatever they might be—increased willpower, motivation, conscious awareness, and mindfulness are likely to follow. By it’s own volition this helps create a more fulfilling, engaging and meaningful life.

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Experimenting with Ahimsa

In a world where things can seem so out of our control, it is comforting to realize that we are always in control of our own thoughts, choices and consequently, our happiness. During an experiment with ahimsa (non-harming), this Axis yoga teacher training student experienced a substantial shift toward greater happiness through a consistent mantra practice. Not only was there an increase in self-awareness but also in the desire to spread happiness to others.

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Experimenting with Ahimsa: Gayatri Mantra

When we were asked to think about which yama or niyama we wanted to work with for our first experiment, I was immediately drawn to the concept of ahimsa. Non-harming. This concept is one I have thought about and applied to my life before in some ways, but there is still a significant situation in my life that frequently arouses un-yogic thoughts: my job. I make my living waiting tables. I’ve been doing it for over two years and it has certainly been a learning experience. But I have to admit that it is very taxing work sometimes. Dealing with difficult customers is a regular occurrence. I also work in an environment where my coworkers and I often vent to each other, so we all carry the burden of each other’s negativity. Collectively, unintentionally, we help create a toxic working environment that saps energy from everyone involved. I frequently leave work feeling exhausted, drained, squeezed-out.

I wondered if this concept of ahimsa could help me break out of that. I wondered if, instead of getting angry at rude customers or taking up other people’s negativity, I could choose to do something else instead. I didn’t know what that something else might be at first. One day at work, it came to me. I was feeling upset and, suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard the Gayatri Mantra in my head. We had used the Gayatri Mantra a couple of times in class, and something about that mantra in particular resonated with me. I loved its message about meditating on the creator, letting our minds be inspired and filled with divine qualities. I felt that these were exactly the qualities I wanted to cultivate in order to stop doing harm through my thoughts. So I decided that every time I felt upset at work—or every time a situation arose that might possibly cause me to think toxic thoughts—I would chant the Gayatri Mantra internally. I wrote the mantra (along with its English translation) on a scrap of notebook paper and took it to work with me every day.

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Experimenting with Ahimsa: For Self

I think I have stumbled on something powerful here. After that first night of chanting my mantra internally, I came back home and wrote that I didn’t think it was possible to feel upset while my head space was filled with this mantra. I actually couldn’t believe how well it seemed to work, and how quickly the mantra helped me break out of negative thought patterns. It took some concentration to be able to “catch myself in the act”, and to recognize when I needed to chant my mantra, but I was able to catch a lot of little toxic thoughts and let them go before they snowballed into something much bigger. The mantra had such a quieting effect on me that, often times, when I got done chanting it, I’d forget what I was thinking before.

I got a little angry at the mantra for that. Part of me felt like this practice was stripping me of my thoughts and feelings, like it was breaking down reactions that seemed perfectly normal and human, and that on some level I felt entitled to have. I read somewhere that we humans are attached to our suffering, and it’s true. There is a twisted kind of satisfaction in being upset. There was one day when I did get really upset and I found that I didn’t even want to chant my mantra. I wanted to hang onto those feelings, and I knew they wouldn’t survive in the presence of the mantra.

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Experimenting with Ahimsa: For Others

The most profound moment in my experiment happened on a night when a couple of coworkers in my vicinity were being incredibly negative. They were saying nasty things about their customers and they were both getting each other more worked up. They started to get louder and louder, and I started doing my mantra in my head. I repeated it a couple of times, feeling annoyed at how hard it was to hear my thoughts over their noise. I started to get frustrated with these people for the way they were acting. But all the while I kept chanting in my head, partly now to drown out my own reaction to their negativity, and at one point, spontaneously, I realized I didn’t just want to chant for myself anymore—I wanted to chant for them, too. So I silently dedicated a couple of chants to my coworkers, wishing for them to find more happiness and peace within themselves, because happy people don’t talk like that. I wished for their minds to be inspired and filled with divine qualities. And then I felt at peace.

This was a beautiful moment because, suddenly, it wasn’t just about me anymore. I wasn’t just concerned about my own peace. I almost feel guilty admitting that, for most of the rest of the experiment, I was too busy trying to find my own inner peace to worry too much about what other people were doing. There was just this one spontaneous moment when it dawned on me that I wasn’t the one who needed the most help here.

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Experimenting with Ahimsa: Forever

The experiment may be over, but I want to continue with this mantra practice because already I feel a shift inside of me. Already I feel lighter, more peaceful, and less at the mercy of situations and people that I can’t control. That’s all outside of me. I do have choices about what I allow into my inner space. There’s something powerful about knowing that you have that choice. I can choose to chant my mantra internally instead of just reacting to the things that happen in life. I can choose to be upset, if I want, but ultimately it doesn’t do anybody any good. I am learning, little by little, that I don’t have to go that route—there is another, kinder and more peaceful way. And I can’t describe how comforting it is to know that.

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Just Be

One of the enriching elements of the Axis Yoga Teacher Training program is the experimentation with yamas and niyamas. This student applied the niyama of Santosa to daily life and, through this experiment, found a piece of easily attainable enlightenment. Simply feeling content with life as it is and realizing all that is, is enough. And best of all, anyone can follow similar steps to achieve the same contentment.

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Just Be: Recognizing Discontentment

“I am here for a reason, to simply exist.” As penetrating as that statement might seem, it was very humbling to realize for myself. During this existence I have encountered so many others on paths of their own and many relationships have formed as a result. I know that it is not just me who is guilty of reaching out to these other people along the way for support, advice, a helping hand and even happiness and company. There can be a tendency for us as human beings to reach out to others more often then we go looking to ourselves for answers and comfort. However, it can be a harmful and damaging way to live if one is not able to find happiness when alone. Most outside resources have only been able to ever provide me with that “fleeting” sense of joy which is as transitory as some of the sources are themselves. We have been raised and conditioned in a society that is constantly searching for new ways to be on top, to be the best, to have to greatest and most powerful technology, smarter phones, smarter kids, smarter cars. It can be overwhelming and hard to avoid the same pressure to be the best as well, to excel and exceed above the rest so sometimes we are not content just because we are always trying to improve. What comes from being on top really is satisfaction and that is much different than Santosa, a practice of true contentment, which was what I was hoping to bring more of into my daily life with this Yama and Niyama experiment.

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Just Be: Moving Towards Contentment

It is an important lesson to learn; how to accept and live with ourselves. We must find how to do this before we can live with others in true harmony. Our lives are filled with surprise encounters and new acquaintances which means we have to be aware of ourselves and “who” we are projecting before we can create relationships of true value. Yoga is very much focused on teaching skills which help to cultivate the best relationships we can with ourselves and others around us. Within the Ashtanga Yoga system there are two limbs along the “Eight-fold path” which focus on these very relationships: Yamas and Niyamas. Yamas or “restraints” are meant to help one re-evaluate the value of their social relationships and help to improve them. While Niyamas on the other hand, are observances of the self. It was profound for me, to admit that I needed to work on my inner self and the relationship I had with that very self. I needed to step out and witness my ego in order to find the real lasting kind of contentment that Pantajeli speaks about in the second observance of five, Santosa. “By contentment, supreme joy is gained,” (Sutra 2.33) this statement insinuates to me that before you can obtain the supreme and ultimate kind of joy every human being would like to experience, you must discover contentment first, joy is only a product of this Santosa (contentment). Many different kinds of joy can be felt throughout life but, most of those feelings are as temporary as the objects or circumstances that they develop from; life events like a marriage or births, sex, drugs, entertainment, new clothes, new cars and so on there are so many different ways to acquire this false sense of supreme joy. This “supreme joy” Pantajeli describes is much more esoteric, it comes as a product of acknowledging and accepting the ordinary things in life just as they are, with out any selfish desire to modify or manipulate them. I have begun to realize that we must gaze inward to find true peace not outwards  at the material world which promotes the vicious cycle of greed and desire; we can never be at peace with the material things in our lives the way we can with ourselves. The experiment I conducted was meant to monitor and measure my own sense of contentment. I decided that I was going to keep a journal in order to open up with myself and try exploring how to uncover that sense of true contentment without the need for anything, or anybody else. Self awareness became the most crucial tool to use, it helped to shine the light on the simple and enlightening fact that, I had everything I needed to be perfectly content right where I was at the very beginning.

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