Barriers to Practice
Creating any healthy new habit is not easy. It’s heartening to me that Patanjali acknowledges this in the Yoga Sutras. As he’s espousing the many benefits you’ll gain from your new yoga practice, he stops to mention the barriers you will encounter.
As with other truths discussed in the Yoga Sutras, these obstacles are as relevant for people today as they were for yogis committing to the practice thousands of years ago.
All nine obstacles are disruptions to the heart-mind field of consciousness (citta) and can be debilitating to a practice, because distracting thoughts and emotions (vrtti-s) arise when antarāya-s are present. These nine obstacles are:
Disease
Apathy
Self-doubt
Carelessness
Fatigue
Regression
Sexual preoccupation
Erroneous views
Ungroundedness
~Nicolai Bachman, The Path of the Yoga Sutras
It’s great to know that these obstacles are out there, because, with planning, you can anticipate them and stop them from disrupting your practice.
Kleshas – Avidya Dances with Maya
Yoga Philosophy talks much about Kleshas, or things on the yogic path that can lead us astray. Like all moments presented to us in life, the kleshas can also help point the way back home to our divine self.
The Kleshas are described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras as afflictions on the path to enlightenment. As we are able to identify these afflictions, or games our minds play, we are able to overcome them and move forward freer, lighter, and with a stronger connection to truth. Continue reading “Kleshas – Avidya Dances with Maya”
Santosha
Santosha is one of the niyamas, or self restraints, recommended by Patanjali in the yoga sutras. Mastering the yamas and niyamas is an integral part of the practice of yoga, and so far, one that I find myself continually practicing time and again. I’ve written before about Santosha, the practice of being satisfied with what one has, in my very first post. Desire, though, is not an easy monkey to remove from one’s back nor one’s mind.
“I can resist everything but temptation”
~Oscar Wild