removing impurities

2.43“The removal of impurities allows the body to function more efficiently” (Desikachar translation)
To me; the removal of impurities refers to my daily practice – body refers to physical existence “being” in this form and efficiently is measured against (towards :-) my authentic inner guidance and meaning (to be happy joyous and free). Iyengar gives me some extra translation on “tapasah” as the ascetic devotion, and self-discipline. In these days self-discipline is out of my hand, it’s not my business, I can’t make me pure :-) I just do the dishes and the practice and follow the next direction and reality takes care of the rest.
My (small) self cannot discipline my (small) self – there is need for an other instrument – I guess spirit (grand self) is a good one! All this small and grand from the sutra about the God-spark in all of us being the big self and the little self being the ego who is part of human existence.

So this week practice will be about removing impurities (rotations, conversions, pranayama, oh… everything can do it) and lets look at the results in practice and measure our efficiency – why we do yoga.
Love

I'm the practitioner not the propeller

“The result of contentment is total happiness.” (Desikachar translation)
This is what I read: when I get a practice over a longer time, with the yamas and the niyamas I get cleansed and clarity unfolds. Then contentment comes out of being clear and on this path, and out of contentment comes this total happiness or “supreme happiness” as Iyengar calls it.
It is granted, because … I’m the root of my own troubles and when the cleansing process puts this “I” in perspective something else than ego can fill up time and space..
Iyengar writes about the propelling power of the tapas, the devoted practice, which will propel the practitioner into a transformation. This is a part of being on a path of concentration which makes self-study (inventory) possible and leads towards God or reality or what you understand (or don’t understand) as a higher power.

The practitioner is not the propeller neither is the practitioner the power that drives the propeller. This is given through practice. I’m the practitioner. That’s it. Everything else is a gift. I’m the observing receiver of this gift. Thanks. Tak.

Now, my teaching is influenced to be about seeking the contentment and not trying to force the asana but enjoy the force that starts up in every asana by just meeting up on the mat and follow instructions.
Namasté
Jenni

cheerful and benevolent :-)

2.41 “When the body is cleansed, the mind purified and the senses controlled, joyful awareness needed to realize the inner self, also comes.” (Iyengar translation)

When I experience “clarity of mind and body”, do I feel joy? Yes. Not exaltation or bubbly but… Joy, as being free, light and at ease. When I move away from this clear centre, do I experience pain? Yes. I once heard a wise man say that pain is only a signal to guide us back into centre (the broad highway)

And Iyengar passes on the promise that “When the consciousness is cheerful and benevolent, the seeker becomes ready to receive the knowledge and vision of the soul.” I know that insights that come to me, when I’m cheerful or benevolent, reminds alto more about the words of the wisdom literature.

We are halfway through the sutras and I’m giving an event to celebrate this. It will be about subtleness and cheerfulness and benevolence. Yoga, meditation and fellowship. I look forward to it.

Love jenni

guidelines about cleanliness

Sutra 2.40 “When cleanliness is developed, it reveals what needs to be constantly maintained and what is eternally clean. What decays is external. What does not is deep within us.”

I discover I have guidelines about cleanliness, how often I shower, brush my teeth, how and when I do laundry, how my living areal is kept clean, how my minds jumping and messing things up- is inventoried, amends gets done and how often I do these things.
The guidelines have not been passed down or pointed out to me but aroused from a trial and error over many years. What are your guidelines on keeping clean (body and mind)?
It’s not unimportant. Iyengar points out that the cleanliness of body and mind creates a good temple for the seer, the dweller deep within us. And Desikachar hands down the promise of getting freed from attachment to outward things will get reduced. Thank God! As I wrote last week, these attachments hurt…
Namasté
Jenni Saunte

great river of life

Sutra 2.39 "One who is not greedy is secure. (S)He has time to think deeply. His (her) understanding of himself (herself) is complete." (Desikachar translation) In me, the sutra awakens the word; “what we own - owns us”. We spend time and energy getting it, keeping it and fearing the lost of it.

Iyengar translates it into: "Knowledge of past and future lives unfolds when one is free from greed for possessions." And he points out that holding on to ones thoughts, can be possessive. We are given the guideline to shun the holding on to thoughts and material possessions.

I relate to the aspect of past and future lives, it reminds me of letting go.
To me, the concrete action, to not gather possessions (material or thoughts/stories), symbolically represents my honouring of the spiritual truth; that I actually cannot own anything and that human life and material conditions will eventually die. This sutra makes me face my mortality.

Sometimes (ok- my darker moments) I wonder if everything I experience has the purpose of making me realize that life in this human body will end. Love stories end, people, situations, conditions I love disappears. “It” hurts, but I guess what hurts is my "attempt to hold on".
Other times (my lighter moments ;-) I see a big slow great river, the stream of life, and I courageously step into it and I lay down and let it carry me - wherever.

The dark and the light stories are the same; the stories just evoke different emotions in me.
This sutra makes me think of "panta rei" -everything flows, Heraklitus statement. I've loved it since I was a teenager and heard it the first time. I thought I could see this great flow in life in glimpses.

I want to let yoga be the big river of life and my role as a teacher is to invite my students to step into the water and let it carry them :-) flow, being carried and not greedy…
Namasté
Jenni Saunte