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The Philosophy of Yoga
At Susquehanna Yoga, we believe that
understanding and studying the ancient philosophy behind the practice of
Yoga helps our students get the most benefit out of their class time. For
this reason, we include the ‘Philosophy of Yoga’ Lessons in
sequential order in our newsletter. All lessons are also
archived for reference and are
available on this page.
Yoga is prescriptive - IF you do this, then that will happen. Yoga teachers sometimes describe to their students how certain poses should
feel, or what happens to their body in a particular posture. But students
must learn to listen to their own body and find their own way.
Classic Yoga instruction takes out the descriptive and is solely
prescriptive, and is therefore the most direct route to the center. The
Sutras are the text that first presented the art of yoga. |
The Philosophy of Yoga (Yoga
Sutra 1.45)
by Suzy Pennington
Yoga Sutra 1.45 Suksmavisayatvam ca alinga paryavasanam
“By exploring the subtle particles of nature the consciousness reaches its
goal of a state of complete cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. In
this state the subtle and infinitesimal intelligence (mahat) of nature (prakriti)
is found.”
The subtlest of the principles of nature is the cosmic intelligence (mahat)
called the large Self. When this intelligence is in a person it is
transformed into the “I” (asmita) or small Self. Though the large Self
does not change, the small Self brings changes in a person due to the
influence of nature’s qualities. A person is made up of particles of
nature (prakriti) from their physical body to their inner core of
consciousness. When the individual Self or “I” is quieted by yogic
practices it merges into the large Self. Here the student has reached
the crossroads of Self-Realization.
Merging the spark of the Devine within into the cosmic Devine one realizes
the nature of consciousness.
Paraphrased from:
Light on the Yoga Sutras of
Pantanjali
B.K.S Iyengar
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Philosophy of Yoga Archives:
Invocation Chant
Yoga Sutra 1.13
Yoga Sutra 1.15
Yoga Sutra 1.16
Yoga Sutra 1.17
Yoga Sutra 1.18
Yoga Sutra 1.19
Yoga Sutra 1.21 & 1.22
Yoga Sutra 1.23 - 1.26
Yoga Sutra 1.27
Yoga Sutra 1.28
Yoga Sutra 1.29 & 1.30
Yoga Sutra 1.31
Yoga Sutra 1.33
Yoga Sutra 1.35 & 1.36
Yoga Sutra 1.37
Yoga Sutra 1.39
Yoga Sutra 1.40
Yoga Sutra 1.41 & 1.42
Yoga Sutra 1.43
Yoga Sutra 1.44
Yoga Sutra 1.45
Yoga Sutra 1.46
Yoga Sutra 1.47 - 1.49
Current Yoga Sutra
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