Vairāgya

Today we explored vairāgya in our morning meditation class. This is usually translated from Sanskrit as: non-attachment / dispassion / objectivity. An interpretation that I love from one of my teachers is 'the absence of longing for things’. ⁣
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It’s an attitude we can bring into meditation; allowing sounds, sensations and experiences to be as they are, unfolding before us as we let our reactivity relax. We’re invited to take a pause from the constant push and pull of reaching after imagined gain and loss, whether mental or material. To relax into ‘being’ itself. ⁣
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When we examine the nature of worldly ‘gain’, we find that external objects are finite, so can’t bring lasting happiness. When we really accept that, something magical occurs: vairāgya happens by itself. We no longer need to ‘make’ it happen; attachments naturally start to drop away as we discover inner sources of fulfilment. ⁣
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What’s more, we become less susceptible to advertising and images of perceived perfection on social media when we remember that we have enough, and we are enough. So, integrating vairāgya into our daily life mindset gives such emotional stability and contentment. ⁣
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Someone in the group said that this reminds her of how she’s been feeling in corona times - enjoying finally having time to be with herself, in the relaxation that comes from fewer choices and reduced external focus. I really resonate with this. It’s a time that can teach us so much about needing to take a pause. ⁣

I hope you’re all well and have time for yourself to reflect, breathe, rest, be... ⁣ Love, Anya
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*Vairāgya is found in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, where it is coupled together with abhyāsa - repeated practice - as the key to calming the movement of the mind (YS 1.12, "abhyāsa-vairāgyabhyāṁ tannirodhaḥ”) ⁣

Adhiṣṭhāna

In Vedānta (one major philosophical framework of yoga), Adhiṣṭhāna(m) translates to: seat / basis / ground / support / abode / the substance from which something is made. ⁣
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This tradition asks us to discriminate (have ‘viveka’) between everything that is unstable due to its nature of change, and that which is beyond change - our underlying essence. That which is the basis or foundation for everything else. ⁣
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It is a reminder that all of our human concerns & limitations rest on a basis of stability; existence or being itself. ⁣ In my experience, we can gain insight into this when we sense our own presence in the pauses between mental movement. ⁣
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This is why meditation is often called a process of ‘remembering’. Relaxing mental busy-ness to remember our essence nature. ⁣
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In Vajrayana Buddhism the term also means ‘grace’ and ‘blessings’, which makes sense to me; there’s a certain sense of alignment and reciprocity with the universe when our minds return home to quietness and we rest in our natural state. ⁣

Śraddhā

In Sanskrit, this means means faith, trust or conviction. A deeply held trust - in the rhythms of nature; that we belong in the universe; in our life path; in this moment. ⁣
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Amidst all the uncertainty, the tides continue to flow, the sun and moon rise and set in perfect rhythm, Italians are singing songs of solidarity from their balconies, and we're all, always connected. Both online, and in a much deeper sense. ⁣
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Śraddha is the fundamental trust not only that 'everything's going to be ok', but that in some deeper sense, it already is. Even if our rational minds can't fathom it at the moment.
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With love, and Śraddha,⁣
Anya & team ⁣
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Intimacy

What does intimacy mean in a spiritual context? ⁣
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It is said that in early Chinese Zen literature, the word 'awakening' was used interchangeably with 'intimacy'. We often think of intimacy as connecting with another person, but this ancient practice shows the path to intimacy with all of life. ⁣
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Dogen Zenji: ''To study the self is to lose or forget the self. And to lose or forget the self is to become awakened, or, to be intimate with the 10,000 things''⁣
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What are these 10,000 things? To 'forget' the self is a way of saying we forget our notion of separateness, seeing our inter-connection and inter-dependence - our inherent belonging - in the here and now. So 'the 10,000' things here beautifully represent all aspects of life. ⁣
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We might say that our longing for connection and intimacy with a partner - the joy of 'merging' and losing our separateness in relationship - is the same deep urge we have to unite with all of life, divinity, or source, as we might call it. ⁣
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In savasana and meditation we may experience the sensation of relaxing so deeply that our 'edges' seem to merge with the space around us, leaving a sense of pure presence and belonging. ⁣
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Beyond the leggings and handstands, this is really what yoga and meditation are about - an experience of intimacy with the here and now.

To wake up from endless auto-pilot and find intimate contact with the pulse of life. To know that we belong. To know that we're already home.⁣
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The Space Between

In our 'Winter Flow & Restore' series this weekend we contemplated the yogic and tantric notion of ''the space between”. ⁣
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When we pause to notice, life is filled with spaces. Spaces between sounds, between words, between breaths, between thoughts. A resting place. An opening. The still point around which everything moves. ⁣
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In Daniel Odier's words, ''our life is too often like a text without punctuation''. When we relax deeply and settle, ''all of a sudden, there is a rupture, a silence, a void, a comma, and true life begins. This space allows us to be present, to catch our breath. These moments of emptiness are like rest stops on a long climb. They allow us to taste the moment fully. This is Yoga.''

Santosha

In today’s class we contemplated and journaled on 'santosha', the Sanskrit term for 'contentment'. I find it beautiful - and realistic - that the yoga tradition doesn't try to sell us 'happiness' as such, but more this very simple, natural state of contentment, or desirelessness. Being as we are. ⁣
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Those moments we find ourselves in now and again when we’re not clinging, planning, judging, striving to find happiness outside of ourselves..⁣⁣
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It's tempting to start the new year with the usual list of resolutions - vowing to do more, achieve more, become more... ⁣
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Can we instead take a step back and notice - when are the moments of desirelesness? When are we able to rest in a sense of things being ok, as they are? ⁣
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Essentially, recognising that I, myself, am ok - as I am. Then our goal-setting (which also has a valid place!) can come from a more real place; from a place in which I'm more connected to myself the world around me and able to allow what is best for the whole. ⁣⁣
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In these moments - occurring often very naturally and simply - it is said we are resting in our 'Svarupa', our true nature. Who we truly are, before all of the effort.