Brahmacharya -- Moderation/ Right Energy

Yoga Philosophy/ Yoga Lifestyle Week 5 Brahmacharya

Limb or Principle 5, part 5 of 10 Yama/Niyama (Ethics for Life)

Brahmacharya -- 

Moderation/ Right Energy

Yoga Philosophy/ Lifestyle

Quotes

"[Brahmacharya] literally means 'walking in the way of God,... It's about preventing the dissipation of one's energy through the misuse of the senses. It's a personal energy-conservation program—when you practice brahmacharya, you are not letting the senses rule your behavior; you are not urge driven."
Joan Shivarpita Harrigan
Yoga Journal

"When walking in the awareness of the highest reality (brahmacharya) is firmly established (pratisthayam), then a great strength, capacity, or vitality (virya) is acquired (labhah)."

(brahmacharya pratisthayam virya labhah)

Yoga Sutra 2.38 translation Swami J

"Whatever disturbs the mind and body disturbs the spiritual life—it's all one energy,... Brahmacharya asks you to consider how you spend it. Look at energy like money in the bank: If you have $100, you don't want to spend it all right away so that you have nothing left. Become a good energy manager."

Nischala Joy Devi

Yoga Journal

"Those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in yoga. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through yoga." 

Swami Satchitanada 

Life Philosophy, Poses, and Meditation

To understand Brahmacharya we must understand the words.

Brahma -means Creator, Absolute Being, Highest Truth, the Divine

Charya - means to follow, to move, to be like

When we practice Brahmacharya we are being "good energy managers." We can practice this in our yoga pose practices or any physical practice as well as in our life. Brahmacharya is often translated as celibacy and that can be part of it but any overindulgence can also be part of depleting our energy such as the food we decide to eat, other things we consume such as alcohol or drugs, or even the TV Shows we decide to watch, or the real life dramas of our lives.

However, as in many of the Yoga lifestyle philosophies and practices it is not just what we do not do, it was what we do.

Anything that depletes our energy is not life giving. Brahmacharya calls us to participate, to follow, to move in, and be a creative, life giving force. It calls us to connect to Life.

As we enter a New Year, we can ask ourself how our past year has been as far as managing our energy and creating positive, life giving, creative energy. And we can ask what we can do in this coming year to manage our energy well and create positive life giving energy for ourselves and for those around us.

Poses

"When you're working with asana, you need to learn to regulate your effort so that you're not pushing and forcing, which drains the life force"  Charlotte Bell

Virya is a big part of Brahmacharya.  Recall the Sutra: "When walking in the awareness of the highest reality (brahmacharya) is firmly established (pratisthayam), then a great strength, capacity, or vitality (virya) is acquired (labhah)."

Practicing Brahmacharya is also about creating strength and vitality with balanced energy.

Check out our post on Lotus Pose to learn more about Brahma.  Padmasana (Lotus Pose)

Yogapedia explains Virya

"Virya is mentioned in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras as one of the five attitudes and mindsets that are helpful in achieving inner peace, or samadhi. The other four include: shraddha (faith), smriti (memory), samadhi (contemplation) and prajna (discernment). Virya represents willpower, determination and courage, which keeps yogis on a focused path.

Some names of yoga asanas that are derived from the word, virya, include supta virasana,(supine hero pose) and Virabhadrasana (warrior pose)." (link below)

Meditation

Here is a resource for a meditation to manage your energy.

https://www.yogajournal.com/meditation/meditation-for-energy-conservation

More Resources

https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/path-happiness

https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5618/virya

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/brahmacharya-the-middle-path-of-restraint

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/finding-moderation-throug_b_7805370

Satya— Be Truth

Yoga Philosophy Week 5 Satya/Truth

Yoga Philosophy

Limb or Principle 1, part 2 of 10 Yama/Niyama (Ethics for Life)

"As truthfulness (satya) is established, each action (Kriya) will result or bear fruit (phala) as one’s foundation or support (asrayatvam)."  

Yoga Sutra 2.36

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic."

John F. Kennedy

"Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness. "

Khalil Gibran

The Truth is more than not tell Lies

Un-truths are a bit different than lies.  Lies are blatant and meant to deceive.

An un-truth is more of a thought based on a misconception.  These also deceive us and others. 

What un-truths do we tell to ourselves?  during our daily lives,  during our yoga practice?  

One of the first lines in the Yoga Sutras, (the book on Yoga Philosophy written by Patanjali prior to 400 BCE) was that Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. And that when this happens we know our true self.  Then the 8 limb system for knowing the true self is laid out.   

1-2  Following certain Ethics
3.  Physical Practice
4. Breath Practice
5. Sense Withdrawal
6. Concentration
7.Mediation
8. Bliss

The second Principle in the Ethics of Yoga is to be truthful or rather to be truth.  When we are truthful it is said we will have a great support and foundation.

A little bit about the word Sat 

1. Satya means to be truth.  Sat — truth and Ya—- to be.  

2. Sat Nam.  One of my yoga teachers taught the Sat Nam Mantra which means I am Truth or Truth, I am.  

3. Sattva as a quality of life.  There are three qualities of life:  Rajas, Tamas and Sattva.  Sattva is our true state in yoga. It represents our natural state to which yoga seeks to bring us.

Sattva

Sattva is a state of mind that is balanced and tranquil. It is the root of the word Sattvavajaya which is the use of ayurveda (Yoga lifestyle) and Yoga to draw the mind to its natural state of balance, tranquility, and clarity.  The goal is healing and transforming the mind.

Rajas

Rajas is a state of mind that is full of movement, simulation, impulse, and feels imbalanced.  This may be labeled as ADD, lack of focus, shatter brained, hyper, monkey mind. This is often the fight in fight, flight or freeze response.  Rajas is also passion and energy. Rajas gets us going and keeps us going.

Tamas

Tamas is a state of Mind that feels stuck, heavy, and, immobilized.  It is characterized by the freeze or flight in the flight, flight, or freeze response and feelings of overwhelm.  Tamas is also steady, Tamas makes us take a break and rest.

When we think about lies, we may think about the lies we tell other people. What lies do we tell?   According to a UMass Study 60% of us lie everyday. Mostly to other people to seem likable and impress people.  (See article below.)   It is important to reflect on the lies we tell ourselves as well. For example, when we lie to others to impress them we are also telling lies to ourselves that the real us isn't good enough.  We tell different lies to ourselves and our close family members and friends. 

How might Rajas or Tamas impact our lies we tell other people and ourselves?  

Rajas Un-Truths: If we are over stimulated and lacking self-control we might not see people or ourselves as they/we truly are and lash out in anger.  This example includes un-truths we might tell based on not seeing the truth about other people or ourself.  For example the often used phrases: "You always ... "  and  "You never ..."  

In Yoga poses we may get mad at certain body parts.  For example, I used to call my wrist stupid because I broke them and they couldn't do arm balances.  I decided if that were true I would accept it, but just in case it wasn't I would gently stretch my wrist and work on it and see what happened. It turned out my wrists are not, in fact, stupid and they can support me.  

Meditation/ Relaxation we may get angry at our minds and emotions and berate ourselves "My mind is overactive, I am no good at this."  

What types of angry things do you say about your body or mind? 

Tamas Un-Truths:  If we are feeling that flight or freeze response or feeling of overwhelm we might tell the un-truth of "I Can't."  Or tell others that they can't.  For example, "You/I can't change, You/ I can't do it that way, You / I can't accomplish this or that. "  In Yoga poses we might say things like "I'll never be able to balance in tree pose."  or "I can't do yoga because I am not flexible enough". I can't relax, I can't meditate .. "  What types of things do you say? 



Speaking the truth in love.  Sometimes there are hard truths.  Things we may need to face and admit to ourselves or things we may feel called to help a loved one see about his or herself.  Blending speaking the truth with some of the other Yoga Principles like Ahimsa (Non-harming/ Loving Kindness),  Aparigraha (Non-Grasping / Letting Go), Asetya (Non-Stealing, Being Giving a Grateful) can help us speak the truth in love to others and to ourselves.  

The Truth.  The Truth with a big "T"  could take a lifetime to study. There are centuries of philosophy about Truth.  Religions have their ideas about Truth.  Poems are written about Truth.. . "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" (Keats).  In Yoga, there is the idea that we have a natural state (Sattva) that is revealed to use or we being to understand and see when we strip away all the un-truths, myths, and stories we tell ourselves, or beleive that we are told, when we strip away the labels.  When we take a moment to be still and be in the moment and just be.  This is our foundation and support which when it governs our thoughts and actions leads us to feeling balanced and peaceful.  

"As truthfulness (satya) is established, each action (Kriya) will result or bear fruit (phala) as one’s foundation or support (asrayatvam)."  



Some article

WHAT IS SATYA? HOW TO LIVE YOUR TRUTH  https://www.gaia.com/article/what-is-satya

Article about the amount of un-truths we tell everyday.

https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/umass-amherst-researcher-finds-most-people-lie-everyday-conversation

Some other artciles

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-lies-we-tell-ourselves_b_11056142

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14800/the-15-most-damaging-lies-we-tell-ourselves.html

Aparigraha— Non-Grasping/ Letting Go

Yoga Philosophy Week 4 Aparigraha/Letting Go

Yoga Philosophy

Limb or Principle 1, part 5 of 10 Yama/Niyama (Ethics for Life)

 ‘Let your concern be with action alone, and never with the fruits of action. Do not let the results of action be your motive, and do not be attached to inaction’. Krishna

When one is steadfast in non-possessiveness or non-grasping(aparigraha), there arises knowledge of the why and what of life. 

 Yoga  Sutra 2.39 

We are doing the Yama part of Yoga Philosophy somewhat out of the traditional order. Three of the 5 Yamas start with the letter “a” which means “the opposite of.” So it is interesting to explore all the yamas that start with the concept of doing the opposite of.

Here is the traditional order:

1. Ahiṃsa — non-harming.  The opposite of harming, in other words loving kindness 
2. Satya — truthfulness
3. Asteya — non-stealing.  The opposite of stealing, in other words giving 
4. Brahmacharya — moderation
5. Aparigraha. - non-grasping.  The opposite of grasping, in otherwords, letting go.  

The Yamas actually have an interesting pattern: do the -opposite of this ... practice this... do the opposite of this... practice this... do the opposite of this... 

What is a Yama?  In the 8 limbs of Yoga there are three Yamas.  The Yamas, often translated as Ethics and the Niyamas, often translated as morals, are both part of the first limb. Then there is Pranayama, often translated as breath control which is the second limb.  Asana/poses are the third limb, and we will cover the rest in the future which lead to meditation and bliss. 

Iyengar in his book Light on Life defines pranayama as Breath Extension and that Yama means extension. Our Yamas then are ways to extend ourselves into the world and into relation with others as well as our relation with ourself.  We will get into this concept more when we cover Niyama and Pranayama.

Back to Aparigraha.  "Pari" means "All sides" and "graha" means "grasping."  So aparigraha often gets translated as non-grasping.  In other words, "letting go."  

There are many ways we can let go in our practice and in our life.  

Asana 

In our physical practice, we can let go into our poses instead of trying to push into poses.  We can let go of some ideal of what we think is the perfect version of a pose.  We can let go of even our attempts to relax or quiet the mind, letting go the judgements that come up when we do or do not accomplish what we think we are "supposed" to be doing.  Often in Yoga this is called non-attachment.  It doesn't mean we don't care.  It means we are not attached to the outcome. 

We can practice letting go in our breath practice and meditation practice as well.

Pranayama 

In Breath Practice, we literally let go of the breath as we exhale.  Often this release can feel metaphorical for other things in life we seek to let go. 

Meditation

In Meditation Practice, we may seek to let go of thoughts.  However, that can turn into grasping.  I find it helpful to be an observer of the mind and just notice when the mind becomes very active, jumping to the future or dwelling in the past and bring it, gently, back to the present by paying attention to my breath or a mantra. 

Daily Life

Daily life, we can let go of our attachments.  For example, we can clean out the house of things we no longer need. Perhaps, not acquiring things we do not need in the first place.  This is a good time of the year to consider what we really need.   A wonderful resource for this is The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. And my other favorite, Declutter at the Speed of Life. I combine these two techniques for myself and as part of the Wellness Coaching I offer. contact me kim@lifefullyoga.com for more info.

We have other types of attachments too.  Attachments to our opinions, our concepts of who we are, attachments to routine.  There are so many things we hold on to or cling to. 

What are you holding on to that you'd like to let go?  

Here is a nice article with some tips for letting go from Yoga International:

 7 Ways to Practice Aparigraha

Learn More 

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  Explore  Yoga Meditation 

  Explore Yoga Breathing 

Yoga Philiosphy Asteya — Non-Stealing/ Giving

Yoga Philosophy Week 3 Asteya/Non-Stealing

What is Yoga Philosophy?

Part 3 of 10 Yama/Niyama (Ethics for Life)

Asteya/Non-Stealing or a Sense of Abundance

Yoga Philosophy/ Lifestyle

Quotes:

"When we feel connected to the vastness of life and are confident of life's abundance, we are naturally generous and able to practice the third yama, non-stealing (asteya)."

Donna Farhi

" When the opposite of stealing (asteya) is established, all jewels, or treasures present themselves, or are available to the Yogi.

(yoga sutra 2.37)

"Asteya reminds us that greediness that goes beyond the resources that we actually need, robs us of our ability to be content and feel abundance"

Judith Hansen Lasiter

Teaching
Yoga Ethics/ Yama and Niyamas

Just like Ahimsa (non-harming/ the opposite of harming), the "a" in front of the word indicates the "opposite of."  Asteya, while often translated as "not stealing," actually means the opposite of stealing.  That could be giving, gratitude, generosity, being open to the jewels or treasures in front of us, contentment,

a sense of abundance.

Often, Asteya is translated as abundance.  This is a good translation, however, the step beyond that is (as the opposite of stealing) giving.

Like our first quote asserts a sense of abundance leads to generosity.  

When we feel we have enough, or even recognize that often we have more than enough, we do tend to feel we can give more, we may give away some of our things or make donations.

What about when we feel we are enough?  How might this show up in our life? In our yoga practice?  What if we practiced with the belief that we are flexible enough, strong enough, balanced enough, right now?  What mental scripts would play in our head when we do a pose or try to meditate or relax?  

It's okay if we want to improve and grow but what about how we treat ourselves as we are right now? What about gratitude for our Now?

Asteya is also often translated as non-coveting.  When thinking of yoga physical practices it means to not covet what other people can do on the mat beside you or in the yoga magazines or on Instagram, etc. but beyond, that, again, it means feeling and knowing that we have abundance in our own practice, we have enough, we are enough.

When it comes to life, it means the same thing: to not covet other people or things, but also beyond that it means feeling and knowing we have abundance in our life, we have enough, we are enough. That is not to say there aren't times when we are in need.

A sense of gratitude, abundance, and the ability to be giving doesn't mean we might not need basic human needs like food, water, and shelter. It means knowing that it is not what objects we possess; its not how our body feels; it is not the love we get; it is not whatever we feel we must possess or have that makes us whole, it is what we believe about ourselves that does.

There is treasure right in front of us. Asteya helps us see it and know we do not have to seek or take it from some place else. And more than that, Asetya helps us feel abundant in our life and helps us be more giving in many ways from being generous with gifts and charity, to feeling more free to give love, to give others a break or forgiveness, to feeling more peace and contentment.

Perhaps, we can be generous with ourselves and in turn more generous with others.