I started practising yoga nine years ago after suffering a traumatic pelvic injury during the birth of my son, which threatened to end my dance career.
Although familiar with the physical aspect of yoga, a friend and colleague introduced me to the more spiritual plane of yoga a few months ago. I was introduced to a new way of releasing the white knuckle grip on life – this meant that one accepts reality as it is and not as one wants it to be.
Thirsty for more knowledge, I travelled to Rishikesh in India for a complete immersion in yoga, its practice and philosophy.
I trained intensively under Swami Sudhir Anand and also had the honour of being offered philosophy lessons from a highly spiritual and inspirational yogi, who at 26 leads an exemplary life of a true devotee.
His knowledge was abundant and priceless. It was during these classes that I was introduced to Patanjali’s Sutras and the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.
These limbs or branches of yoga are also known as the Path to God through psychophysical exercise and they are the qualities that need to be practised and followed in daily life.
There are four external practices:
Yama – Attitudes towards others. It also means ‘restraint’, and is the beginning of a process in which a behavioural pattern dies.
Niyamas – Attitudes towards oneself. Training the heart and mind is the central strategy of the second limb of yoga. This is internal discipline and it prescribes the active cultivation of non-afflicted actions particularly loving kindness, compassion, gratitude generosity humility and equanimity.
Asanas – Postures. Patanjali looks at Asanas strictly as an aid to meditation. Most contemporary practitioners of yoga assume that Asanas are meant primarily to activate some kind of supernormal state of physical training. This is not quite so.
In classical yoga, Asana was not meant primarily for physical training at all. Postures are an inner training of being. They awaken the observing part of self.
Pranayama - Breath. This is our life force. It is the energy that flows through our Nadis (energy channels). When we are disturbed, our Prana is scattered, and the more disturbance, the more vital force is lost and wasted.
There are also four internal practices:
Pratyahara – Detaching at will from the senses.
Dharana – Concentration.
Dhyana – Meditation.
Samahdi – Bliss or super consciousness.
So it isn’t such a bad idea to practise kindness, gratitude, compassion, love even towards your enemies, stillness of the body and mind until we reach a place of bliss.
The physical and spiritual aspects of yoga teach you how to be present in the now and not rent your thoughts to the future or lose yourself in a memory of the past.
As a practice, yoga is a connection to the present moment. Practising being in the now quietens your mind, and when it’s quiet for a long enough time, you will glimpse your true self, and will want to see more.
Yoga is about putting the reins on the mind. It is a form of art. A discipline. A prayer.
Yoga classes will start this month. There will be Ashtanga Power Yoga for the early risers at Madliena Cottage and at Bacchus Restaurant; Hatha Yoga for pregnancy and beginners; and Ashtanga Vinyasa for dancers, gymnasts and experienced practitioners. E-mail vljandance@gmail.com or call 7934 5543 for more details. www.movingbodiesmalta.com.