About Vairagya - Dispassion

Vairagya – dispassion is a very important quality that a yoga practitioner need to have along side with Viveka – right discrimination of the real and the unreal, if we really want to walk the path of Yoga.

We are living in the world and we are human beings. Very naturally and there is nothing wrong about us having passion about many things in life.

Many people think that dispassion means we cannot enjoy life at all. But it is not true.

When we know what is real and unreal, we will naturally not chasing after the fleeting material enjoyments or the sensual pleasures. We will appreciate a simple life with very minimum needs and wants.

We actually enjoy life very much meaningfully but without the craving for love and affection from family and friends or from anyone. Without the need of any material enjoyments or sensual pleasures to give us happiness. Without the need of social status, or success, or agreement from others, or positive feedback from others to give us self-confidence and sense of self-worth.

We enjoy all the things that we have in life at the present moment, but without the clinging towards all these things. When we don’t have them anymore, we will not feel unhappy or refuse to let go.

We also don’t need to pay too much attention onto all the things accept for the basic maintainance of living and the basic needs for us to move on in the path towards self-realization.

We don’t need much actually in this world. We don’t need fancy clothing, exotic food and drinks, sensory enjoyments, extreme fitness and good physics, too many hobbies and activities or get involve in lustful sexual activities or indulge in drugs and alcohols abuse.

We don’t need branded things, luxuries comforts, big cars and big houses, a lot of money to buy the things that we “want” and “like”, “beautiful” appearance, titles, worldly success, accumulation of wealth and things or longing for love relationships or friendships to be meaningful in life or feel good about ourselves.

We will learn to let go our attachment, cravings and clinging towards things, passionate love and affections in life bit by bit until one day we can let go of them easily.

We don’t feel lonely being with oneself because we found peace and contentment already with the Self. And all are not separate from the Self. How can we still feel lonely when we are not separated with everyone and everything? We don’t have to own a single thing, or having a relationship or friendship to feel love and belonging, because we are the love itself and we don’t need to ask for love and attention from anybody. We are receiving unlimited love from everything and are sharing this love with all. There is not even a separation of “love” and “me”. There is no “receiving” and “giving”. There is no “needs” and “wants” of love and affections.

It doesn’t mean that we are cold hearted beings without love and feelings. We are love. It’s just that we don’t need to crave for love or receiving love from the outside to make us feel loved. It is because we are content and at peace with our true Self.

All our unhappiness and suffering are deriving from our own greed, unsatisfied cravings, strong attachments and clinging. It is our strong attachment towards the likes and dislikes about what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think, that is causing us cravings and aversions. We feel frustrated and irritated when we don’t get the things that we like, or are having the things that we don’t like, or we are losing the things that we like.

We can enjoy lots of things but without the attachment towards likes and dislikes. But how many people can really do so when even a yoga practitioner who suppose to practice detachment and dispassion will also unconsciously gets attached to his or her likes and dislikes, and having cravings and aversions in the spiritual path itself and not to say there are so many diversities and distractions in worldly life.

The real Yoga is only one. Although there are many paths in Yoga to suit every individual with different personality but definitely not about changing the original practices especially the Asana practice into something totally not the same idea and same perspective anymore. And nowadays many people who wants to learn “Yoga” but not want to follow the traditions of Yoga, they wants something different and something special or new invention of names and forms to satisfy the ego and the mind. And the dis-satisfactory tendency of the ego and the mind will continue to look for something new and different, it is never satisfy or it gets bored easily.

People don’t want the traditions of Yoga because they don’t like to know about dispassion and detachment. They don’t like self-control and self-discipline. They don’t believe in simplicity. They have no idea of what is non-identification with the body and the mind. They don’t like the idea of ego-less. They don’t want to give up the cravings and clinging towards worldly enjoyments and sensual pleasures. They want short cuts to get momentary good feelings or excitement. There want “happiness” but not intend to give up the source of unhappiness. There is nothing wrong about that. Everyone are free to do what they like to do as long as they are responsible for the consequences of their actions. If people want to do modernized “Yoga”, or luxury “Yoga”, or sensual “Yoga”, or Bhoga “Yoga”, or easy “Yoga”, or fitness “Yoga”, or branded “Yoga”, or many different types of “Yoga Asana classes”, or not want to do chanting and prayers, let them be. As long as they are not harming anybody. It’s just like there are many people like to do different types of activities, or eating different types of cuisines, or enjoying different types or pleasures, or enjoying varieties of movies or musics, or looking for success and achievements in life, and there is nothing wrong about that. Be happy. It is better than to do lots of harmful activities and hurting other beings.

But for people who are looking for true happiness and self-realization, we will still stick to the traditions of Yoga.

May we all be free and at peace.

About Saucha - Purity

Saucha is the purity or cleanliness of the external and the internal of our body. But what does it really means? Does external cleanliness means keeping the environment clean and wash our body until it is clean and wear neat and clean clothing to cover up our body – maintaining good hygiene and good health? Does internal cleanliness means cleaning our body systems – the circulatory system, the digestive system, the elimination system, the reproductive system, the hormonal secretion system and all the organs?

From the surface, yes, this is what it means and there are many Yogic practices to help us to achieve that.

But there are more deeper meanings in Saucha beside all these practices of purification of the internal and the external of our body.

When we were told to clean our eyes, ears, nostrils, tongue and skin, it is not just about cleaning the physical side of the sense organs but it is asking us to purify the inputs and outputs of these five senses, and then followed with the purification of the thoughts in the mind as well. That is what real internal cleanliness or purification is about.

If we have clear eyesight, good hearing, good sense of smell and taste, and good sense of touch and thinking, but if we are attached strongly to the things that we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think, and have differentiation of comfort and discomfort, and have categorization of good and bad, and we are generating likes and craving towards things that we feel comfortable and agreeable with, but generating dislikes and aversion towards the things that we feel uncomfortable and disagreeable with, then these good functioning of the senses is not conducive to us at all, instead they are bringing us a lot of cravings and aversions – dissatisfaction and unhappiness for the things that we don’t like, and greed and addiction to the things that we like.

And so, what is the meaning of cleaning all the internal body systems and the organs but we continue to have so much of likes and dislikes, cravings and aversions, dissatisfaction, irritations and complains about the things that we don’t like?

What is the meaning of doing so many yogic cleansing exercises maintaining the good functioning of the organs and the senses but continue to have so much anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, arrogance, frustration and depression in our heart or our mind?

What is the meaning of sharpening the function of the senses and develop higher sensitivity of the senses to feel the internal and external energy fields and also being sensitive towards the sensations in our body but we are always being disturbed by the phenomena of the energy fields within and without our body, and generating strong likes and dislikes towards the sensations that we feel, and being so sensitive all the time towards energy and sensations until we feel the need of protection or runaway from bad and negative energy, or being so irritated and intolerant with certain things and people?

About the external cleanliness, it is not just about the cleanliness of our physical body and the living environment, but it is about the purity of our intentions, thoughts, actions and speech that we are sending out there. As well as the company that we are mixing with is whether they are wise beings (Satsanga) that can uplift us morally and spiritually or they are unwise beings (Kutsanga) that can pull us down, if we are still being affected by the outside conditions of good and bad.

There is a teaching from from our ancient Gurus saying that – if there is no good company (Satsanga), then it is better to be alone (Asanga) than to be with bad company (Kutsanga).

What is the meaning if our body is clean and healthy, our house and the garden is clean and beautiful, but inside our hearts and the mind is not peaceful, unhappy, depress, selfish, angry, hatred, greedy, arrogant, jealous, discontent, suffering and ignorant of the real and unreal, of what we should do and shouldn’t do?

The real Saucha is the purity of our intentions, thoughts, actions and speech. And this will bring us peacefulness, compassion and wisdom in the heart. It is stop doing bad, and do a lot of good but not identify with what we do and not do, and not attach to the fruit of actions.

Even when we are not doing any so called cleansing exercise for the physical body, but if we have self-control and the awareness of what is pure and impure, which is real and unreal, then we are really cleaning and purifying the internal and the external of this temporary physical body.

The house and the temple that we need to keep clean and beautiful is our hearts or the mind. The body that we need to keep clean is the inner self, wipe away the dirt (the ignorance) and we will be back to our original pure Self and be free from all the attachments towards the body, the mind and all the phenomena in the world.

Even though someone might be very filthy and untidy from his appearance, but maybe he is a saint in his heart and is pure in his mind. The outside appearance really can’t define the purity of a person’s heart. And a pure heart person doesn’t need to justify himself or advertise himself or to have some sort of images to clarify that he is pure and saintly.

May we all attain true purity.

About Purification

Purification is the main practice of yoga and also the fundamental practice for all other religions and faiths. All the asana practice, pranayama, concentration and meditation are to help us to purify the mind.

We need to clean our body once or twice everyday as well as our house and the living environment for hygienic reason and comfort.

But the cleanliness of our mind is far more important than the cleanliness of the body and the environment. The process of cleaning the mind is called purification. Be wise not to be cheated by the appearance of a person. A person who looks neat and clean from the appearance, might be full of impure thoughts in the mind, while a person who looks messy and dirty on the appearance might be a pure saint inside the heart.

That’s why we can’t judge anybody from their looks, their actions and speech and even not what they do and not do. An impure person can be a very good actor. And a pure saint cannot be recognized or defined from his appearance or his behaviors. It is a huge ignorance to judge a person and labeling people with good and bad tags.

We need to sweep away those impurities in our mind from moment to moment and yet there is still impurities arising all the time. It is like when we had finished sweeping away the dead leaves on the ground in the garden, immediately there are others dead leaves lying on the ground again because the trees are still there continue to produce new leaves – liked wise, the ignorance in us continues to produce impurities in our mind unceasingly. And with great patience, we are repeating the sweeping and cleaning action again and again unceasingly and without feeling frustrated and tired.

This is an on going practice for everyone until there is no more dead leaves being produced, the root of the tree is dead and stop producing leaves – liked wise, the root of ignorance is being rooted out and no more impurities are being produced in our mind.

Some people think that if they go to a temple or sacred places for a trip, do some prayers or take a sacred bath, and their sins or bad luck will all be washed away. But in their hearts are still full of impurities and ignorance, and when they went home, they will still continue to have impure thoughts, actions and speech. This doesn’t really help at all.

If we really want to have good luck in our lives, we need to have self-control over our impatience, anger, hatred, jealousy, arrogance, greed and lust. We need to stop speaking harsh words and lies, mocking, teasing, slandering, gossiping, condemning or indulging in impure and meaningless conversations. We need to check our thoughts before we act and speak. We must take care that our actions and speech are bringing benefits and harmony for other people and for our own self. If we are not able to bring any benefits or harmony to other people or to our own self through speech and actions, then it is better that we remain non-action and speechless, but sending our good-will and compassionate thoughts to all the living beings out there.

If we always have ill-will or evil thinking towards other people, we are actually gathering bad and negative energy in ourselves and in our lives. Definitely bad luck will happen onto us and in our lives. And if we only have good-will and kind thinking towards other people without discrimination of good and bad people or people who we like or don’t like and people who we know or not know, then we are gathering good and positive energy in ourselves and in our lives. Definitely good luck will happen onto us and in our lives.

The real purity is attribute-less without any qualities. It is pure without negativity or positivity. We don’t generate any negative energy and we don’t crave for any positive energy as well.

We don’t need any good luck or positive energy to give us good things and happiness in life. Because we are content and at peace if we don’t have ignorance and are wise.

We don’t see any things so called “bad” as bad or any so called “unhappiness” as unhappiness because we see beyond all names and forms. Everything that is being categorized into good and bad, happiness and unhappiness under the perception of duality in our mind, are being seen as same and no differences under the wisdom of impermanence, non-self, uncertainty, namelessness and formlessness.

May we all go back to the state of purity and be free.

About Impermanence

Anything that has a beginning will have an ending. Anything that exists will have to go through forming, sustaining, decaying and disappearing. Anything that we are perceiving through our minds and the senses are constantly changing every moment to moment. This is the law of impermanence.

There is nothing wrong or bad with impermanence. If we know impermanence and know to accept the law of impermanence, there will be no suffering for us. The basic wisdom to transcends suffering is to know and to accept the law of impermanence.

Everything including the thoughts, the feelings, the emotions, and the things that we like and dislike about the taste, the smell, the touch, the sight and the sound are constantly changing from one moment to another.

The condition of our physical body and the happenings in our lives are changing from the moment we were born until the moment we meet death to this present physical body. We won’t be the same every moments – our health, strength and flexibility, what we can do and cannot do, and what we like and dislike.

By knowing the law of impermanence, we learn to be an observer to all the phenomena that are happening in the world, and also to our own mind, thoughts and feelings – whether good or bad, and not generating any likes and dislikes, cravings and aversions towards all these things. We learn to not attach to any of the sensations that we experience from the perception of the mind and the senses – whether comfortable or not comfortable.

We will stop judging anything because there is no certainty in everything. Everything is changing from good to bad, from bad to good, from non-existent to existent and from existent to non-existent. We will accept ourselves as we are at this present moment and accept other people as they are at this present moment – whether good or bad, happy or unhappy.

We will stop comparing ourselves with ourselves with our past performances because every moment the condition of our mind and the body, how we feel and what we can do and cannot do are constantly changing.

We will stop comparing ourselves with other people as well, because every individual has his or her own unique personality and talents, and everyone has different mentality and physical body. Even though spiritually, everyone are the same under the law of creation and destruction, and all are impermanent.

We will stop having any expectation towards anything and anybody because we know that everything are being govern by the law of Karma and impermanence. We just do our best to give and serve, but we will renounce from the fruit of actions.

We also know how to appreciate good things and good relationships with the people, other living beings and the nature. We will know how to be content and control our greed and desires.

If we really know impermanence, we will be free from fears and worries.

There will be no anger, hatred, jealousy, greed and arrogance. We know we don’t have to give any values or meanings to any praise or censure. We will not be disturbed by any good compliments or bad criticism from anybody. We will be full of confidence but maintain great humility.

We will know that we are not this body, we are not this mind, we are not these feelings and thoughts, and this life and this body doesn’t really belongs to us and their existence is very temporary. We are just temporary attaching to this physical body to be here to experience life and to learn about selflessness. Our actions are being done selflessly and free from karma if we know what is namelessness and formlessness. We know that our true Self is untouched by impermanence, impurities, birth and death, good and bad, and names and forms.

Whenever there is any impurities arise in our minds, we will have self-awareness and have self-control over our thoughts, actions and speech. We stop identify with all the impurities and not react to these impure thoughts and feelings.

We stop categorize things and happenings into good and bad. We can detach from what is good and what is bad. We will not do anything that is causing unpeacefulness and disharmony for other living beings and to our own self. We will perform actions that are bringing peace and harmony to other living beings and to our own self without identification with our actions and detach from the fruit of actions.

We also don’t have the necessity to perform any actions as well if we already know what is action in non-action, and non-action in action. Whatever we do or not do, is not a performance or obligation to show to anybody that we are doing something or not and are carry out our duty or not.

We don’t have to prove to anyone to gain trust, confidence or respect.

We will live in harmony with every living beings in the world without the differentiation of good and evil. In the eyes of wisdom, there is no such thing called happiness or unhappiness.

If we truly know impermanence, we are free from happiness and unhappiness.

We don’t have to own anything or longing for anything but still be able to enjoy what is given to us. We are at peace and content.

May we all know this great wisdom of impermanence.

About Yoga Teachers

There are many yoga teacher training schools and yoga teachers in the world nowadays. It is a good thing to encourage more people to involve in yoga practice and sharing yoga with many others.

Basically anyone also can walk the path of Yoga as well as sharing the journey, the joy and benefits of Yoga with other people. Not necessary that everyone who wish to share their very own personal experiences and insights that they acquired from their sincere practice of Yoga have to go through a so called recognized yoga school or ashram, to attain some paper certificates or recognitions to qualify or allow them to share Yoga with others. Because self-realization or enlightenment is not to be found in any school or ashram, but it is in our hearts, our inner Self and it cannot be issued or guaranteed by anyone or any organizations, but it depends on our very own sincere practice and self-inquiry. A person who doesn’t know how to read and write or speak any languages or hasn’t gone to any educational or training school may still attain self-realization within his or her heart.

The real school, real ashram, real teacher and real God is within our Self. There is no need any paper certifications, or recognitions, or qualifications for an enlightened Self to share Yoga or Dharma with any living beings within the world or out of the world. We don’t learn compassion and wisdom from a school or ashram but it is in our life and in our own practice. No one taught us about happiness and suffering, no one can give us happiness and suffering, it is all within our own self. Attachment and non-attachment, likes and dislikes happen every moment in our hearts, in our mind. It has nothing to do with our teachers, the schools or the ashrams.

But yoga schools and ashrams are a place for anybody who wish to learn about yoga and to build a firm foundation for our own practice, not so much about the skill of teaching yoga to others. Because as we advanced in our own practice and attain insights, very naturally we will know how to guide other into yoga practice and sharing the greatness of yoga with others. We all are naturally a “yoga teacher” if we want to call ourselves with such a name, if we have loving kindness, compassion and wisdom, and are sincerely and selfishly helping others to come out from miseries and to walk the path towards self-realization. In the journey of Yoga, we will learn how to go beyond all names and forms and become selfless.

Most important is that anybody who wants to become a yoga teacher must have a pure intention and compassionate heart for wanting to share the knowledge of yoga practice with other living beings. It doesn’t matter if we are not perfect yet.

But before we are able to share this knowledge with others, we should have had a deep understanding of the yoga philosophy and have had direct personal experiences in the yoga practice before we can actually guide others into the path of yoga. We should be teaching and not preaching.

Teaching yoga is definitely not a worldly profession or a job like being a fitness instructor in a fitness club teaching exercise classes for money and fame (though there is nothing wrong with this), but it is to be able to share the greatness of yoga with other people who are in search for true happiness and to guide them how to transcend suffering – as a selfless service to all the living beings even though we may be receiving some fees from teaching classes to maintain our living and for ourselves to continue learning.

Yoga classes is a spiritual path, self-purification and self-transformation disregard whether we are religious or not, having different religion or not, and not just stopping at the surface of physical trainings or activities.

The main practice is self-control, purification, concentration and meditation. All these will lead us to attain wisdom and self-realization.

Purification is about eliminate negativity and ignorance such like selfishness, anger, hatred, lust, greed, jealousy, depression, arrogance, attachment, evil thinking, actions and speech, and fears and worries.

The main teaching of Yoga is truthfulness, selflessness, non-duality, non-attachment and control of the mind which also lead to control of the actions and speech.

Selflessness is about eliminating the ego and non-identification with the body and mind, as well as renouncing from the fruit of actions.

Non-duality is about non-attachment to the names and forms, and non-attachment to the likes and dislikes of the body and mind upon receiving comfortable and dis-comfortable sensations through the senses.

And thus, as yoga teachers we should possess the positive qualities of truthfulness, cheerfulness, positive thinking, patience, loving kindness, compassion, wisdom, open mindedness, self-independence, equality, courage, confidence, humility, gratitude, adaptation, tolerance, correct understanding, right effort, respect, accept, forgive, non-judging, non-comparing, non-competing, non-criticizing, non-expecting, calmness, peacefulness, selflessness, purity of thoughts, actions and speech, and non-attachment.

It is not so much about achieving perfection of the strength and flexibility of the physical body (because no matter how strong and flexible we are and can we perform highly skilled and complicated asana poses, this physical body will still have to go through old age, decay, illness and death (impermanence) – we should be non-identified with the physical body and the mind) but to appreciate the good health and the strong and flexible body to perform selfless service and for our self-inquiry for self-realization.

And it doesn’t matter about what type of qualifications or certifications that a yoga teacher had acquired from which school or ashram, it doesn’t really indicate that we are good and genuine yoga teacher or not. It doesn’t guarantee us self-realization or enlightenment (it depends mainly on our own effort, understanding and practice). And it is not that someone has been giving yoga classes for a long time will be more experienced or is better than someone who had just started teaching. It depends very much on his or her own practice and correct understanding of the teachings of Yoga (insight), and also his or her pure intention to share yoga with all that define whether he or she is truly a yoga teacher or not. There’s no such thing as “good yoga teacher” and “bad yoga teacher”. There should be no comparison, competition, and criticism among yoga teachers. And yoga schools and yoga centers are not suppose to be a money making business and having competition and jealousy among themselves. Everyone are sincerely sharing the greatness of yoga with different people who have different karma, personalities, needs and wants. We all are the instrument to help spreading the teachings of yoga to other living beings who are interested in the path of Yoga. We all are learning from each other and whatever we do, it should be ego-less, renounce from the fruit of actions and to go beyond all names and forms. There is no superiority as a yoga teacher or advanced practitioner and there is no inferiority as a yoga student or beginner practitioner. After purification of impurities and negating the ego, we all are the same one pure consciousness without attributes, beginning-less and endless, and whole.

May we bring peace and happiness to all living beings and move towards self-realization together. Our duty is to promote love, peace, happiness and harmony into the hearts of all living beings in the world.

Mauna - Silence

Mauna is not just about controlling the speech, but also it will lead to quiet the thoughts.

By limiting our actions and speech, it will lead us to slow down the thought waves. This will lead us into meditation.

Through talking, we are losing our prana especially if we are speaking harsh words and lies, slandering, gossiping, censuring, condemning, destructive speech and all types of negative complaints and criticisms.

If we need to talk, may it be kind words, truthful, constructive, motivating, encouraging, uplifting and cheering.

Speaking and sharing the truth of Dharma with all without any discrimination is still consider Mauna. If we need to speak Dharma to the people who are in need of Dharma speech, we should not be stubborn or attached onto observing silence and refuse to speak Dharma to desperate living beings.

Anyway, speech or languages are very restricted and conditioned. Most of the time misunderstanding occurred because of misinterpretation of the meanings of the words that is being spoken, because everybody might have different interpretations of words in different languages.

That’s why sometimes the best speech is being silent.

Dharma can never be fully explained or expressed through the limited speech and is difficult to be understood by the conditioned perception of the mind. Not many people can grasp the real meaning of Dharma through listening and reading the Dharma. The best way of understanding and knowing the Truth is through self-inquiry and self-realization. Even though, we still have to share the knowledge of the Truth with many people through speech and writing, or else it will be less people getting contact with the valuable Dharma.

Any speech that is pure and intention-less is not contradict with the practice of Mauna.

If we are observing Mauna not speaking for many months and years, but we still have lots of impure and evil thoughts in our mind and doing lots of impure and evil actions, then that is not Mauna at all.

If somebody is speaking lies and condemn about us or doing something unkind actions to us, and if we know how to be patient, compassionate, forgive and unmoved, and being silent and remain calm without the need of self-justification or reaction to any of those unkind speech and actions, then this is the highest Mauna of all.

The real Mauna is inclusive of total self-control over all the impurities of the thoughts, actions and speech. It's not just about not talking keeping the mouth shut, and continue to express the unceasing thoughts through the sign language of facial expressions and body movements.

Asana Practice - Part One

Most of the yoga classes that we see nowadays are solely about asana practice. Though it is not the main practice in Yoga, it does play an important role in the aim of achieving positive qualities in order to help us on the path towards self realization.

If we practice yoga asana correctly and regularly with right effort and right intention we will have a strong and flexible body for us to be able to sit for meditation comfortably (although the highest meditation is every moment in life while we are walking, sitting, lying, eating and etc, but sitting meditation is the most important meditation pose that will lead us into the state of Samadhi – complete silence state without name and form). Through asana practice we will also have stronger endurance to perform selfless service and other tasks in daily life. The overall quality of life will be improved. Asana practice also trains our will power to become stronger and to go beyond the mind and the body so that we can have firm determination to overcome the negative and impure thoughts that arise in the mind and have self control over our speech and actions.

Asana practice can help us to develop patience, courage, positive thinking, cheerfulness, openness, confidence, perseverance, awareness, detachment, equanimity, willpower, self-control, calmness, concentration, acceptance, correct understanding, selflessness, humility, compassion, wisdom and being at the present moment. All these qualities are to help us to overcome all the impurities like anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, arrogance, depression, egoism and all types of ignorance that contribute to the unhappiness in us.

It is not the people or the happenings out there that cause us unhappiness. It is the ignorance in us that make us think that it is the surrounding that upset us but actually it is our egoism, anger, hatred, greed, jealousy, depression, arrogance and etc that is making us so unhappy about everything.

If we have correct understanding and wisdom we will not have unhappiness. It is only when we don’t have correct understanding and wisdom that we will have unhappiness, frustration, disappointment and depression.

If we need something to make us happy or feel good about ourselves, we will be very disappointed and unhappy. We are happy and we don’t need anything to feel good about ourselves it's because we are full and content. We are what we are and we are being true. We are not this, we are not that. We are not this fragile body. We are not these emotional feelings. We are not this discontented mind. We are not this selfish ego. We are not this limited intellect.

If we have correct understanding, we will know that we are the love itself. We don't need to look for love and attention. If we know this, we don't feel any separation from everything. We don't feel loneliness even if we are alone. It's only when we don't know this, we will feel loneliness even if we are being with somebody or surrounded by many friends and people.

By training the physical body, we are training the mind as well. If we learn to withstand discomfort and difficulty in physical training, we can develop stronger mental endurance to withstand discomfort situations and overcome difficult moments in life.

We will become more patience, forgiving, accepting, loving, tolerance and open minded. We learn to respect other people who have different thinking, different cultures, different beliefs and different views from us.

We also learn to stop judging, comparing, competing and criticizing. We learn to let go expectations and rewards - the fruit of action or the benefits from the asana practice. We learn to detach from our body and the mind and not identifying with them. We learn to observe the thoughts and feelings without associating with them. We learn how to thin out our ego and minimize our cravings and aversions.

We learn to become humble but full of confidence. We learn not to be driven by praise and compliment. We also learn not to be disturbed by criticism and censure.

Above all, we learn how to overcome our fears and negativity.

Ultimately we are preparing ourselves to go beyond the mind and the body, and beyond dualities, names and forms.

Yoga practice is about controlling the mind, to have self-control over our thoughts, speech and actions, and to go beyond the body and the mind. Asana practice is just one of the tools to help us to conquer the body and the mind. It helps us to develop many divine qualities and to achieve a calm mind which will lead us to self-healing, purification, concentration and followed by clearer understanding. Eventually our well-trained and well-controlled body and mind will lead us to self-realization.

Yoga asana is like Pranayama – control of the breath, is a purification process for the energy fields in our body. It purifies and energizes the Nadis – energy channels, and it will unlock and release accumulated tensions – physically, mentally and emotionally. It also stimulates the chakras - energy centres in our body. All these energy centres are related to the body systems – the brain and the nervous system, the digestive system, the elimination system, the reproductive system, the glands and hormone system, the circulatory system and also related to the higher consciousness. It generates fresh energy and channels it for highest purpose – eventually it will help us in controlling the sexual energy and turn it into a divine energy. The greatest obstacle for many people in the path towards self-realization is the uncontrolled passionate sexual desire.

Asana practice also helps us to conserve energy in our body instead of exhaust the energy. Although we need to use some energy for us to perform the poses in asana practice but it is only a little amount of energy being consumed when we come to a stage where the poses are being performed almost effortlessly. And by having enough rest in between each asana pose, as well as the long relaxation at the end is actually bringing back lots of fresh energy into the system. All the poses are actually generating energy into the system more than exhausting energy from the system. This doesn’t mean that the energy will become too much and overflows. Our body will know how to balance up the energy and store the excess energy in the “battery” – the solar-plexus for later use, and it will channel the energy for a beneficial purpose for self-evolution.

Many people find that they are always feeling tired and exhausted even though they have enough sleep and rest, enough food intakes, and doing some exercises for health and fitness reason. It’s because all these activities actually exhaust more energy from their system than to generate energy into the system. They don’t have enough Prana through out the system even though they have been eating a lot of food (the system need to use up lots of energy to digest all these food especially if the food is not pure – meat products, processed food, full of preservatives, colourings, and other chemicals. The energy level being low is also because of the energy centres and energy channels in the body do not function properly – they are blocked and inactive.

No doubt that the physical body is a very important instrument for us to walk the path towards self realization, but the strength and flexibility of the physical body is not the essential mean for self realization. Instead the inner strength (courage, confidence, cheerfulness, perseverance and will power) and inner flexibility (acceptance, adjustment, accommodation, tolerance and forgive) are the means for us to attain self realization.

Even a person without the ability to move, to sit up, to speak, or without hands and feet still can achieve self realization without the need of any asana practice. Self realization is not limited by physical limitation – such as difficulty in sight, hearing, speech or mobility. It is all in the mind. Ignorance exists in the mind, and also dissolves in the mind.

Where is the mind? It is everywhere, inside us and outside us. When we are looking at something, the mind is out there on that object and we are not aware of what is happening inside us. When we are hearing some music, the mind is on that music. When we are observing the breath, the mind is within us on the breath. It is always very busy with the functions of the senses and the objects of the senses. Even when we are asleep, the mind is still busy constructing the dreams. Unless we went into deep sleep, then the mind is resting.

But the subconscious mind is always working. It is receiving input all the time even while we are in deep sleep or being unconscious – like being in coma, or when we are not aware of what is happening within our body and in the surrounding. The whole autonomous body system in our body functions even without us being aware of it. They are receiving inputs and sending outputs all the time without us controlling it or realizing it. The energy field in our body is constantly being affected by the energy from the surrounding every moment. All the energies are having some sorts of exchange or resistance against each other all the time without us knowing about it.

By doing proper asana and Pranayama practice will help us to have some control over the energy and redirect these energy into good use.

Merely performing a headstand or balancing on one foot without the correct understanding will not help us to remove ignorance or to attain self realization. It is just an acrobatic movement only. Maybe we can perform some unusual acrobatic movements but we will still have unhappiness, depression, frustration, discontentment, anger, hatred, jealousy and greed if we don’t have correct understanding. And all these impurities are derived from ignorance.

Practicing yoga asana without the correct understanding is nothing wrong or bad. It will still give us some benefits such as giving us a stronger and more flexible body just like doing any other physical training. It also gives us a boost of courage, confidence and some sorts of good feeling. It will also help us to have a stronger immune system and can help to prevent many physical ailments.

But most important is that if we practice yoga asana with correct understanding, it can help us to remove ignorance as well which is the main reason why we want to practice yoga in search for enlightenment in order to attain true and lasting happiness.

Mental tension and physical tension are inter-related. If we can work on releasing physical tensions by doing the stretches in asana poses will help to release mental and emotional tension too. As the same, if we have mental and emotional tension, we will be having physical tension – the body is stiffened and all the systems in our body also get tensed up. We will be having blood pressure problem, digestion problem, breathing difficulty, irregular heartbeat, constipation or diarrhea, genital related problem, skin problem and so on.

That’s why even though some people have good nutrition intakes, enough exercise and enough rest, they still have so many health related problems or feel tired and have low energy all the time, it’s because they are having so much mental and emotional tensions. All these tensions have been accumulated for so long and continue being generated and never been released. Due to these mental and emotional tensions the physical body also tenses up (especially in the joints, shoulders, neck and facial muscles).

Merely by doing some physical stretching without working on the mental and emotional level will not help much in achieving a healthy body and a happy mind. That’s why yoga practice emphasizes on dealing with the mind to help solve all the other problems.

When we practice yoga asana in a relaxed manner, we are actually relaxing the body and the mind while performing some physical movements. After each session of asana practice, it will leave us feeling fresh, calm, relax and full of energy.

Actually the real relaxation and calming effect are not just coming from the last 10 to 20 minutes of final relaxation, but come from the whole complete session of initial relaxation, initial prayers and chanting of Om (purifying the impurities and vibrating the energy centres), breathing exercise or Pranayama before or/and after the asanas, performing a group of asanas with complete balance of warming up exercises, inverted pose, forward bending pose, backward bending pose, twisting, balancing pose, side bending pose and most important having enough rest in between each asana, and a non-rushing final relaxation and a short sitting contemplation at the end with a closing prayer that being chanted with great gratitude and humility. Prayers are to remind us about the divine qualities such as compassion and wisdom, and to pay respect and gratitude to all our teachers who had passed down this beautiful teaching from ancient time.

Everything (easy or difficult for us) that we do from the beginning of the session until the end of the session contribute more or less for the calming and relaxing effect of asana practice. They all are equally important for a complete and well-balanced asana practice session.

Even though sometimes we do not have enough time for a full session of practice and just doing a few poses or even just one pose, but if we do it with the right effort and attitude, we will still get the benefit of being calmed, relaxed, refreshed and re-energized.

It is the concentration of “being at the present moment” which frees us from fears and worries, unlock and release the tensions in our body and in our mind, and let us experience peacefulness and lightness after performing a certain asana, it doesn’t matter if it is forward bending or backward bending pose. No doubt that different body position will have different effect on the body and the mind, such like forward bending is soothing and calming while backward bending is energizing and stimulating, but they both render us a beneficial effect of relaxing and refreshing to the body and the mind. And so we can’t say “do more of this” and “do less of that”. All asanas are beneficial to us in different ways as long as we know how to arrange different types of poses into our regular practice so that we will get a well-balanced asana practice. We want to be calmed, fresh and energetic after asana practice, and not being dulled or being overly agitated or feeling exhausted and tired.

In all the asana poses, there is no differentiation of easy or difficult, or being indicated as beginner or advance level. The poses themselves have no standard of easy or difficult. It is our body capable of doing certain poses and incapable of doing certain poses that make us feel and think that the poses are easy or difficult. Even as a so called “beginner” comes for an asana class, or a so called “long-time practitioner” comes into the same class, they will be doing the same asanas and it depends very much on their individual’s strength, flexibility, stamina and mentality that determine how well can the person do the poses or which pose is easier or more difficult than the others. Some people are very flexible in forward bends but inflexible on backward bends while some others are the other way round (imbalanced flexibility). Some people are not flexible in both forward bends and backward bends but are very good at twisting or side bending.

And thus, we cannot have any judgment and comparison at all with anybody.

The new practitioners and the old practitioners are actually practicing the same poses (all poses should not be labeled as beginner’s poses or advance’s poses). And it is not that the one who had been practicing for a longer time will be the more advanced student and should be learning certain poses being indicated as “advanced poses” while the newly practice student is being labeled as a beginner or less advanced student and should be learning only those so called “beginner’s poses”. It is not that those who can do headstand and other complicated poses are more advanced while those who cannot do headstand and other complicated poses are less advanced. Some people can hold all the poses for a very long time but that doesn’t determine that he or she is an advance practitioner also.

It is not that people have been doing asana for a very long time, or can perform many complicated movements that require super flexibility and strength will be labeled as advance practitioner. It is their level of understanding of the philosophy, detachment and concentration that define them as advance practitioner doesn’t matter if they can or cannot perform any so called highly difficult poses.

It depends a lot on individual level of health, stamina, strength, flexibility, physical limitations, personality, and understanding of the philosophy, level of detachment and concentration for what they are able to do and whether they can do it comfortably or not. And all these are not permanent. They are changing all the time. Sometimes the pose that we used to be able to do it easily might be difficult for us now. Sometimes the pose that was difficult for us might be very easy for us now. And this will change on the next moment.

It is not the poses themselves are being easy or difficult. It is the condition of our mind and the body that is feeling easy or difficult to perform the poses at that present moment.

Like some people who have been practicing asana for a long time but due to their physical health problem they cannot perform inverted poses or find it very uncomfortable in certain poses. But this doesn’t mean that those poses are difficult, dangerous and not good.

It is the same that the difficulty level has got nothing to do with our age, our past experiences or our fears. Some older people are more flexible and stronger than some younger people. Some people with physical injuries before still can perform some poses that even healthy and fit people can’t do. Some people can’t do or not want to do certain poses due to great fear of falling down or injuring themselves. But in fact those poses are not difficult or dangerous at all.

All the poses need to be practice regularly and in a non competitive way, and then our physical limitations will start to become less restricting because the mind starts to relax due to no more judgment, competition, comparison, criticism and expectation. The body will become more flexible and strong. We will feel easier and more comfortable in each pose. Everything will become easy for us. Our confidence will become stronger and fear has become less. Those seemed like “dangerous” poses are not “dangerous” for us now. In fact they have become something “fun” and “enjoyable” thing to do.

It is okay for the people with large body structure who cannot perform certain poses due to the restriction of the physical body. They can just practice the poses that they can do especially practicing the sun salutation at their own pace will help them to render the body lighter or with the support from the teacher to go into the poses. It is the same for the people who are very inflexible. As they practice more, the body will adapt to the practice. They will gain confidence, strength and flexibility. The most important thing is yoga practice is not about to be able to performing certain poses but to gain self-confidence, self-control, understanding, positive thinking, compassion and wisdom while in the process of learning these asanas.

It doesn’t matter what poses that we do, we are doing it with full awareness and concentration, being at the present moment without judgment, criticism, comparison, competition and expectation. And we accept ourselves as we are at that present moment of what we can do and cannot do, whether we have improved or declined, and whether we feel good or not good, and not categorize the poses as easy or difficult, comfortable or not comfortable, and not generate like and dislike, craving and aversion.

We learn to stay detached from the body and the mind, not identify with them, and observe all the body sensations, thoughts and feelings that arise when we are doing the asana poses without identifying with them, let them come and let them disappear eventually. And we try to stay focus on what we are doing and on the breath as much as possible. Once we aware that the mind has wondered somewhere else on the thoughts, without feeling frustration we bring the mind focus back onto the present moment on the breathing. And keep doing this until it becomes a natural habit which doesn’t require much effort for us to stay focus at the present moment and it won’t irritates us whenever the mind wonders away again and again.

Yoga asana should be done with great humility and gratitude in a non-rushing manner. Usually a traditional complete asana session will last between one and a half hours to two and a half hours even though time or duration is not an important issue here.

It is not about doing as many asanas as possible within a class, or training the body to perform such and such poses to challenge the ability of the body for competition with others, or to show off to our friends that we can do such and such poses, or to perform on stage for some audiences to watch (showing the students how to move into a pose during teaching a class is something completely different from performing some poses on stage for entertaining purposes or to amuse other people).

It is about doing each asanas with self-awareness at the present moment, accepting ourselves as we are at the present moment of what we can do and cannot do, of whether we feel good or not good. The condition of our body and the mind is changing all the time and from moment to moment, we are not the same body and not the same mind. We cannot compare ourselves in the present moment with our past performance and experience, or relate our performance now with our future performance because our body is not in the same condition all the times.

We cannot really pre-judge or having pre-conception about ourselves of what we can do and cannot do from our past experiences or performances, even if we are being limited by some physical injuries but still it doesn’t indicate that forever we can’t do this or do that. Be very open minded and put down all our previous learning, knowledge, experience, familiarization and performance, and letting go of any expectations for the benefits from what we are doing.

The benefits will come even without us thinking about it. Just like when we try to do something, the result will come even without us having any expectations. In fact the bigger the expectation, the bigger the disappointment it will be. Tensions built up due to having great expectation.

We cannot compare ourselves with anybody as well because everyone has different type of physical body, flexibility, strength, stamina, ability, personality and understanding. Since there won’t be any comparison among ourselves and with other people, there won’t be any competition as well.

We also cannot have any judgments towards the object and the subject because of the law of nature – impermanence. Everything change from good to bad, from bad to good, from easy to difficult, from difficult to easy. Since we cannot have any judgment, there can’t be any expectation as well.

Letting go any judgment towards the poses whether they are easy or difficult for us, comfortable or discomfort for us, as well as judgment towards ourselves of whether we are good at doing the pose or not, or if we feel any good or bad feeling while doing the poses. Most of the time, lots of emotional tensions are being released when we do asana practice. We might feel bad, angry, sad and depress due to these emotional tensions come out to the surface. It is good to release these tensions and not to suppress them back into the system. What we can do is, observe these feelings, not to identify or associate with them and not to react. After some times, they will disappear into thin air. It is a good purification process.

We also learn not to be disturbed by the outside environment and the objects of our senses.
– The view of the surrounding – usually we keep the eyes closed during the asana practice. The mind is very curious trying to see what is happening outside;
– The sound of the surrounding – not to be distracted by any sound whether it is something nice or very irritating;
– The smell of the surrounding – not to be irritated by some body odour of other people or fragrances that people use, or nice smell or bad smell in the air;
– The taste – the sweat that might come into our mouth or the saliva changes due to the practice. We might feel dryness or wetness in the mouth and throat area;
– The touch – the skin in contact with the floor or our hands or feet touch some other people next to us. As well as the temperature of the surrounding – whether it is too hot or too cold;
– The thoughts and feelings that arise in the mind from time to time which is a normal character of the mind – it doesn’t like to stay focus at one object for a long time. The mind doesn’t like repetition of the same thing. It always wants something new and stimulating.

We learn to stay focus at the present moment on what we are doing and on the breathing while doing the asana practice which will make it into a habit for us to be able to stay focus on what we are doing in life. As we always said, yoga practice is not just within an asana class but it is in our life every moment in our heart.

A good asana practice will balance our energy field; generate more energy; channel the energy for a better quality of life; purify the energy; conserve the energy; strengthen our body and the immune system; increase the suppleness of the body; calming the mind; slower breathing rate and heart rate – the heart and lungs don’t need to work so hard as before. The mind is becoming clearer and sharper. Our self control over the thoughts, speech and actions is becoming stronger. The more we go deeper into the practice and manage to perform complicated asana poses, the more humble we are becoming and not being proud and arrogant of what we are capable of doing. And this will thin out the ego.

In a group class with people in different levels, is a very good place for everyone to learn to share, to be patient, to be open minded, to respect others, to adjust, to accommodate, and to tolerate and becoming selfless, compassionate and wise.

As yoga teachers, we need to have regular practice ourselves beside teaching classes. We should teach what we practice regularly and share our direct experience with the students. This is the lineage of yoga practice.

There is no meaning in teaching the students of what we read and saw from books and videos, or what we learnt from our teachers about this pose and that pose, or it is in the trend on the market now that everybody is doing such pose and such “style” of yoga but we didn’t practice them at all and have no direct experience about it.

It is like we can’t be teaching the student how to do headstand if we didn’t practice headstand at all or don’t know how to do headstand or have no confidence in headstand. If the teacher is afraid to do headstand, thinking that it is a dangerous pose and he or she might get broken neck or blood vessels might explode under great pressure or the eyes might become blind from doing headstand, then how can he or she teach headstand to the students? Certainly there are people with certain circumstances are not suitable to practice headstand, but that doesn’t determine that headstand is dangerous. What a huge ignorance.

It is like some people are allergic to fruit and vegetables and get sick after eating them, but that doesn’t determine that fruit and vegetables are bad and poisonous.

Imagine that there are some yoga teachers telling the students that they shouldn’t practice headstand because they might get broken neck; blood vessels will explode and become blind if they do headstand. What a confused “yoga industry” in the world nowadays.

If we don’t know how to do headstand and cannot teach or don’t want to teach headstand, it is absolutely nothing wrong but we shouldn’t condemn headstand is a dangerous pose or plant negativity and fear into the students’ mind about headstand is not a good idea because we are embarrassed that we ourselves don’t know how to do it or how to teach it, or fear that the students might get injury in our class and ruin our reputation.

We also should not have the idea that as a teacher we should be better than the students, or we should know all the poses, or the students should be like us or perform all the poses perfectly. There is no specific form and shape that can determine "this is a perfect pose". As long as we are doing it with correct understanding and in a non competitive way, and holding the position according to our own ability, it doesn't matter if our body is very stiff that we couldn't touch our toes or the feet couldn't touch our head from behind, it is perfectly fine.

Yoga should start with our own self, and then we can share with others.