Category: Spirituality

From the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (2.1) as translated by Rev. Jaganath Carrera….

“Kriya yoga, the three elements that form the foundation of the yoga life, are:

Tapas — self-discipline and accepting hardship and pain as a help for purification

Svadhyaya — repeated, deep study of sacred wisdom and the introspective search into the nature of the self; mantra repetition

Ishwara pranidhanam — wholehearted devotion and dedication to Ishwara [God, Divinity].”

Practice these and reap the deepest benefits of Yoga!

Here’s a related teaching from the Christian Bible:

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12: 7, 11)

This is Yoga! From Chaplain Charles Lattimore Howard:

Being still has been a necessary part of my walk. Stillness, I should add, is not for me the same as emptiness. While the waters of the pond might be still on the surface, there is much life moving within. Life is within. Love is within! 

When I am still I do not empty myself. I would rather be filled with love than have nothing within. And being still allows for this to happen, or rather being still allows for you and I to notice that this has happened already. The love is there within us, even now. Yet sometimes the waves of life rage so incessantly that it is difficult to see or feel that love.  

Pausing and being still enough to notice love within and around is a deeply powerful and countercultural act…. In the case of most of contemporary society, stillness is a prophetic act, defying that which demands that we move quickly and move upward. It challenges the notion that it is better to be busy and occupied. It refuses the call to be constantly distracted and perpetually plugged in.