The beginner’s guide to yoga: Part 3

Our mental approach to a posture says it all

Part 1 of this series in the Beginner’s Guide to Yoga gave you a heads-up on things to be aware of before rocking along to your first yoga class.

Part 2 of this series in the Beginner’s Guide to Yoga explored how our connection to breath and prana means we create our postures from the inside out, rather than impose them from the outside in.

Now it’s time to take our journey into yoga one step further – where doing asanaThe physical postures of Yoga, like downward dog. ‘right’ is also about the relationship you have with the pose while you’re doing it.

In other words…

• Are you liking the pose?
• Disliking the pose?
• Or are you completely absent from the pose as you think about what you’re going to have for dinner tomorrow night?

Being aware of your thoughts and where your attention is takes your practice to the next level. It starts to take you into yoga philosophy, which directly answers everything that is going to come up on your mat.

An intro to Yoga philosophy

Oh boy… there is so much to learn about yoga you can spend a whole life time studying it – any lots of yogis have done just that. They’ve studied the fluctuations of the mind, the psyche, the body – and they know how all of these things work together.

But these yogis weren’t reading books, they were reading their bodies and mind on the mat (and off)… and then passing on everything they experienced for later yogis like you and I to read all about.

Which is why it’s so worth doing some reading outside of class, just to familiarise yourself with some of this stuff. That way, when it comes up on the mat, you’ve already got a head start on how to respond to it.

Read about yoga philosophy and you’ll find about about stuff like…

Kleshas – obstacles of the mind, five in total. These thoughts block you from truth.

1. Ignorance – thinking something is true when it’s not – like yoga’s just for chicks. Uh-uh!
2. Egosim – identifying the Self with the mind, thinking that you are your thoughts. Not true!
3. Attachment – having to have something. Like a certain spot for your mat in class every week or it ruins your class. Only because you think it will!
4. Aversion – avoiding something. Like handstand because you’re afraid of it.
5. Fear of death – ok, pretty big, and kinda the whole crux of getting to enlightenment…

So when you’re on your mat and the teacher says, “Now we’re going to do crow.” And your mind thinks “Oh I hate crow.” That’s aversion, and aversion leads to suffering, which is what we’re working to release when we practice yoga. So you let it go, come back to your breath, and go into Crow with beginner’s mind like you’ve never done it before so you don’t know what it’s like. Because it’s not like anything. It’s just Crow.

Then there’s the Gunas, or states of mind, three in total. This is kinda the general feeling of your thoughts.

1. Sattva – balance, order, purity. This is how you maybe feel after class. Everything is just cool. You feel calm and centred and blissed out.
2. Rajas – energetic, active, frantic. This is when you feel motivated and all fired up to do something, but it can also be too frantic and too ADD.
3. Tamas – lethargic, dull, slow. This is how you feel when you’re depressed and can’t be bothered.

When we practice, we learn that no matter what our state of mind before class – generally rajas or tamas – simply by turning up and getting on our mat, we can shift that state of mind towards sattva.

We learn not to wallow in tamas – “oh I can’t be bothered, don’t feel like it…” screw that! Yoga is all about being master of the mind, not letting it rule us. Nope, we recognise the state of mind we’re in and then we take action to shift it. Or maybe we just just accept it for what it is right now, and not let it throw us off course. Regardless, we understand that our state of mind is colouring our experience.

Understanding just these two concepts of yogic philosophy – the kleshas and the gunas – can have a profound effect on your experience in yoga class. It’s all too easy to go to class and think you’re doing yoga while getting all caught up in the web of liking/disliking/attachment/egosim/ignorance. Sure, your asanaThe physical postures of Yoga, like downward dog. might be looking better and better… but your relationship to that asanaThe physical postures of Yoga, like downward dog. hasn’t shifted since the very first class. In fact, it may have even become more of an obstacle to truth as your ego feeds on your yoga practice and it becomes just another thing you do that builds up your ego identity… but that’s a whole ‘nother article.

For now, all we’re concerned about it is beginning to expand our understanding of yoga beyond posture, beyond asanaThe physical postures of Yoga, like downward dog.. With an appreciation for kleshas and gunas, that’s what you’ll be able to do.

So next time you’re practicing yoga, pay attention not just to the asanaThe physical postures of Yoga, like downward dog., or the the breath. Also pay attention to where your mind is as you practice, what the quality of your thoughts is and what those thoughts are about. There’s no need to try and change or fix anything – just bringing awareness to what is is often enough to allow things to start to shift. Your practice begins to expand beyond posture and breath, and another layer of yoga opens up before you.

Enjoy!

Articles on similar topics:

1. The beginner’s guide to yoga: Part 1 ...
2. The beginner’s guide to yoga: Part 2 ...