Inner Tradition of Yoga (eBook)

From Chapter 1: Vidyā, Yoga begins in the present moment, and the present moment begins in silence. From that silence, words are born. In the Yoga-Sutra attributed to Patajali (third century b.c.e.), considered to be one of the core texts of yoga psychology, we begin with a simple sentence: 'Atha yoganusā,sanam.' This is translated as 'in the present moment is the teaching of yoga.' The Yoga-Sutra is not a speculative text on philosophy or metaphysics, nor does it offer us a theology of creation or a final comment on what's in store for us after death. Creation and death coexist in sequence with the arising and passing away of each moment. Every inhalation is a birth and the end of every exhalation is a small death. In each consecutive moment, over and over again, the universe arises and passes away on the thread of a breath cycle. The first word in the Yoga-Sutra—,atha—,literally means 'now,' 'what is here in this moment.' Yoga begins in the present moment. Yoga is the present moment. We could more concisely translate this opening line as: 'Yoga begins now.' The teachings of yoga orient us toward this very moment, rendering the future invisible and the past no longer in reach. Many scholars and practitioners translate yoga as a manifestation of the verb yuj—,'to unite'—,which turns yoga into something one does, a form of willful activity. In thinking that yoga is the act of uniting one thing with another (breath with movement, body with mind, self with other), we confuse yoga with the doing of yoga. When we use the term in this way (as in 'I'm going to practice yoga'), we confuse the techniques or the technology of practice with the experience of yoga. In every unfolding moment, in any meeting with any person, even in meeting ourselves, everything is complete. This completeness doesn't mean that everything is put together in some master plan. It means that everything is interdependent and that yoga is not something we seek outside of ourselves or a willful attempt at union, but the recognition, in the present moment, of the unification of life. The inherent interconnectedness of existence reveals what in philosophical terms we call 'nondualism'—,the collapse of separation between subject and object. When we experience relaxed openness and attentive awareness, the world reveals its inherent completeness. When we move through the world, 'concealed and wrapped in thought,' there is no direct contact with reality, and we know not 'who or what' we are. Yoga begins with the gesture of a gentle bow in service of the present moment. Yoga is a way of being and a mode of existing. Existence is a play of interconnectedness, and the more we clarify our perception and ways of organizing our experiences, the more openness and compassion we bring to the profound and sometimes confusing undertaking of being in the world. The authentic practice of yoga is an unremitting attention to present experience, whether in mind, body, or heart, with a baby on the hip, making breakfast, or balancing the breath in a headstand. According to yoga philosophy and psychology, the only place to begin an investigation of yoga—,or of anything for that matter—,is the present moment, because this is all that is actually occurring. The future has not yet arisen and the past is passed, the only thing there is to investigate and the only way to begin paying attention is within this very experience as it unfolds right now, right here. That is why an investigation into the nature of reality and the true nature of the mind begins in this life, this body, and this...