Teaching an 8 week course on the practical applications of the 8 Limbs of Classical Yoga has given me new appreciation for the ancient yet highly relevant depth of yoga as a whole. Each week I contemplate one of the limbs or steps towards enlightenment and it has given me the ability to infuse the wisdom into my daily activities. This week and next have been of particular usefulness with the limbs of dharana (focused concentration) and dhyana (unbroken meditation) as focus has often been a challenge for me in my life.
I see where dharana is important to do first. Just to make a conscious effort to truly focus on something is challenging in itself. I tend to be a person with about 30 different things going on all at once as many people are these days. My husband, so adept at simplicity and often troubled by juggling too many things at once, is a great influence on me to slow down and simplify in order to get the most out of each individual activity (albeit our lifestyles sometimes clash with a Leo fueled vengeance!). Lately I have found great solace and peacefulness by immersing myself in just a few very important things. I will admit, I still have a few extra fun things sprinkled in here and there, but only as a side dish to the main meal of my attention. I have experienced deeper relaxation, a deeper understanding and knowledge of those particular activities and what I give to those things has been greater, more efficient and more of my full potential. Now that I have practiced dharana in those activities, I feel confident that I will be able to use that skill to transfer to anything that I attempt to do. But I now acknowledge that it is first a mental focus shift (dharana) that then leads to the full immersion and participation in the activity (dhyana) leading to one’s own enlightenment of that particular thing (which by the way can also be a person).
When you practice the 8 Limbs related to your daily life, I believe it leads to the real purpose of yoga. In the Anusara tradition, we are taught that immersing yourself in your life and your own humanity more deeply, rather than trying to escape it, is the route to enlightenment, true happiness and fulfillment. I have had this experience and it is so freeing, exhilarating and relaxing.
Thanks for listening. Practice on, in all forms of yoga!
Namaste,
Rachael
