YOGA sutra aims to bring back the essence of yoga by studying the scripts ascribed to the father of yoga, Master Patanjali, written in 2 B.C. Photo by Niño Jesus Orbeta
Is this yoga for you? By Anne Jambora Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 21:42:00 08/18/2008
MANILA, Philippines—The poetry in movement—that which connects the body, mind and spirit—breathes life back into the busy modern age as ancient scripts find its way into the hearts of yoga practitioners. It is yoga in its most essential state; it is yoga in which the ultimate goal is blissful enlightenment; it is the yoga sutra.
“Sutra, Sanskrit word for ‘thread,’ are little verses threaded together so that one may find the god within or the divine nature and find everlasting happiness,” said Anna Carbonell, guest teacher/presenter during Yoga Manila’s recent workshop called “The Yoga Sutra” at the Ayala Alabang Village in Alabang, Parañaque.
Carbonell, who received yoga certifications at Sankalpah College of Yoga for Vinyasa yoga, Omega Institute for Jivamukti Yoga and Santa Barbara Yoga Center with Sarah Powers for Yin Yoga, lamented about how mainstream yoga has limited its teachings to the physical practice (asana). Asana is merely a tool to prepare the body into meditation, she said.
“If you follow the scripts, there are eight limbs of yoga. Asana, the physical aspect, is just one of the limbs,” said Carbonell. “We are restless souls, always searching for what we already have and what we want to have. These external wants/needs cannot bring happiness because they are not permanent in our lives,” she continued.
Integrate the physical (external) and spiritual (internal) to be connected with the inner divine being, and content can be achieved. To do this, one must be aware of the eight limbs of yoga, the 2-B.C. foundational text of yoga ascribed to Master Patanjali.
Apply the scripts
Leading a life of bliss, however, does not require one to live in isolation or far from civilization. One only needs to apply the scripts into their daily lives. Like any move to change, it begins as a conscious effort before things become second nature to yourself, said Carbonell.
“It is okay to want to be healthy, to want to be happy, to want other people to be healthy and happy,” said Carbonell’s co-presenter and lecturer, Alistair Holmes, who explained that some desires are good for personal growth.
Holmes, a senior student of the contemporary master of Tibetan wisdom Geshe Michael Roach, has been teaching yoga and classical eastern philosophy in North America and Australia.
The eight limbs of yoga are: yama (self-control), niyama (commitment), asana (physical postures), pranayama (control of the breath), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) dharana (focus), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (bliss).
“The yama is like the 10 commandments, laws one has to live by,” Carbonell said.
These commandments are ahimsa (nonviolence), satya (truth and honesty), asteya (nonstealing), brahmacharya (nonlust), aparigraha (nonpossesiveness).
“Nonviolence doesn’t mean just to our fellow human beings, but to non-human beings like animals, insects,” she said. “In the strictest sense, one should a vegan. But I say follow what works first with you and build it from there. If it does you more harm than good not to be a vegetarian or vegan, then why continue eating animals?”
Brahmacharya doesn’t mean celibacy either, but to avoid meaningless sexual encounters. Liberating oneself from greed and unnecessary material wants is what aparigraha is all about—just how many shoes can one wear?
“This is not a new religion. Yoga sutra is a practice, a good addendum to your religious life. I am more mindful of my actions and aware of my existence and its relationship to the people around me than ever before,” said Carbonell.
Union
Carbonell said yoga means union, unit ing the self that you see and the higher self that you are aiming to be.
Niyama, how we treat ourselves, is composed of five observances: shauca (purity), santosha (contentment), tapas (austerity), svadhyaya (study of the sacred text), ishvara-pranidhana (awareness of the Divine).
The first five limbs is the foundation for spiritual life; the last three limbs, not accomplished without first establishing the first five, recondition the mind and help achieve enlightenment or god-union.
“You can only do poses over a period of time. And while many people do go into yoga first with the physical benefits their top priority, it is only when we become aware of the limbs connecting each other that we find contentment and happiness,” she said.
Carbonell first “learned” of yoga as a child, when her father, the country’s pioneer yoga practitioner, first taught her the shoulder stand. Always into sports such as volleyball, tennis and track, she found herself practicing yoga again as a teen, lured by the prospect of attaining long muscles in exchange for the bulky lumps from doing many sports.
Unable to do so many poses and getting frustrated, she was only able to achieve the ease of flexibility and awareness when she studied the ancient scripts.
“I am very competitive, and I couldn’t understand why my sister could do the poses and I couldn’t. When I learned of the sacred texts, integrated them into my life and became more content and less prejudiced, it all began to fall into place just naturally,” she said.
Too many emotional excess baggage—in her case the growing discontent and jealousy felt over a sister who could do better poses than her—does affect the physical state, she said.
“I wouldn’t want to say yoga sutra is the real deal in practicing yoga; it is just a more holistic approach to a practice that’s long been chained to its physical benefits,” Carbonell said.
A ripped stomach disappears after several nights of food bingeing; enlightenment stays with you for the rest of your life.
Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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