The Yoga of Inner Action
The meaning of yoga is the interdependence and non-separation of all existence. However, we spend that majority of our lives viewing the world in its separation through the binary lens of likes and dislikes, self and other, inner and outer. When we view the world dualistically, we experience isolation rather than connection. Sadhana is spiritual practice and discipline. Over time, sadhana lessens the binary viewpoint fostering a deeper meaning, fulfillment, and joy with life.
“Yoga in action is composed of austerity, self-study, and trustful surrender to Ishvara.”
In verse 2.1 of the Yoga Sutras, Sri Patanjali states that the systematic practice of yoga consists of tapas (austerity, concentrated discipline, or heat), svadhyaya (thorough study of oneself and of the scriptures), and Ishvara pranidhana (self-surrender or letting go). Wherever we are and at any moment, we can use these three principles to transform our formal practice as a conscious way to live our life.
Tapas
Tapas is often understood as austerity, the power to stay with our discomfort and use the discomfort as our teacher. When we experience pain, whether physical, mental, or emotional, we are experiencing a limitation. Staying with the discomfort creates inner heat. Tapas is the voluntary practice of gathering all of the fire within us to burn through our resistance to our limitations.
The practitioner of tapas is a tapasvi. In the beginning of establishing the practice of tapas or discipline, a great deal of our energy goes into overcoming our resistance. If we do not have an understanding of a higher goal, tapas creates anguish and will eventually backlash. But with a higher purpose fueling our fire, the result of our discipline will render a radiant body and clarity of mind.
Tapas begins with taking inventory of our lifestyle choices and then adjusting them as needed to create a more wholesome existence. This can include making better decisions concerning our diet, exercise and establishing regular sleeping patterns. Other practices of tapas are asana, meditation, service, and being truthful in our thoughts, speech, and actions.
Pranayama is a potent practice of tapas. It is stated in the Yoga Sutras that the fire of the breath burns away the impurities of the body and the mind (2.52). As the breath is a conduit for prana, breath control expands and builds our life force. Prana is special because it is the vehicle which carries awareness. As our prana expands, so does our awareness. Pranayama strengthens and purifies the nervous system and awakens our consciousness. It also teaches us to stay present when we become uncomfortable. With daily practice, pranayama assists in lessening the binary tendency to project our judgement of likes and dislikes on to our experiences.
Svadhyaya
Staying with discomfort requires discrimination. There is a difference between acute or sharp physical pain in contrast to inner restlessness which makes us fidget and wiggle our way out of staying with the posture, breath, meditation or a feeling. But in order to discern the difference, we must study our own mind and its tendencies.
Formally, svadhyaya is the study of oneself through the use of the scriptures. It is a combination of receptivity, application and, ultimately, coming to one’s own conclusion through direct experience. Yoga is clear that we should not follow the teachings or a teacher blindly. However, particularly in the west, we tend to pick and choose what we like and what we don’t like. This is not only robbing us of an opportunity to face our own prejudices’, bias’ and conditioning, but this is how we find ourselves appropriating from other cultures.
When we are faced with a teaching which makes us uncomfortable, we can begin to investigate our own belief systems and trace it back to the root of why we think things should be one way and not another. Sometimes, we just simply are not ready to receive the teaching and that is okay, but we must honor that fact rather than dismissing the lesson altogether. We may also need to find another source or teacher who can communicate the teaching in a way that we can understand it more clearly.
Ultimately, svadhyaya is helping us to understand the layers upon layers of outer identity that we have wrapped ourselves in. In order to unravel our identity, we must be able to witness our tendencies almost as if we were watching a movie. Instead of just letting the movie roll by and ride the emotional highs and lows, we hit pause when reactivity arises and begin to discern the source of it. This practice requires tapas, the ability to stay with the discomfort.
Ishvara Pranidhana
Letting go is not a passive act of escapism, repression or suppression, it is the wisdom to see the transitory nature of our existence. Trying to hold on to that which will inevitably transform creates a lifetime of suffering. With time and consciously practicing letting go, our attachments begin to lose their power over us because we can see them for what they are.
Many cultures emphasize acquisition and security as the goals of life leading us to believe that the more we have, the more secure we will be. If we continue to feed this narrative, we may find ourselves in disillusion and despair when our false sense of security is upended. Covid has been a prime example of the chaos which can ensue when we cannot accept our current circumstances and cling to the memory of our past.
Repression and suppression are two of our defense mechanisms when we are in discomfort. Repression is an unconscious program that kicks in when what we are experiencing is too painful for us to experience consciously. Suppression plays out in many different forms such as distraction, numbing, deflecting, blaming and projection. In either case, we are displacing ourselves from the present moment and adding more layers to our identity.
To be clear, we may have experienced traumas in our life that we need trained professionals to help us to heal. There are injustices in this world that need direct and clear action to be dealt with. The reason that practicing kriya yoga is so important is because it empowers the individual to understand what is lying beneath the surface of our individual and collective conscious mind. This discovery not only brings us closer to wholeness, but it fosters compassion for others as we can identify and relate the root of all suffering.
The yoga of inner action is a radical practice as we are attempting to dismantle the very paradigm of duality which creates fear, conflict, injustice and oppression. This requires the willingness to stay with discomfort, cultivate clarity from self-study and letting go of the tendency to fight with life. Kriya yoga offers us the opportunity to live more skillfully in the present moment free from the coloring of conditioning. Nobody may see you, you may not receive any credit or recognition, but the practice of kirya yoga is a conscious act of service in the name of equity and peace for all.