Latest / Sutra Squad / Ep. 26 Sutra 2.29 On the Eight Limbs of Yoga

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Ep. 26 Sutra 2.29 On the Eight Limbs of Yoga · Sutra Squad

• Seth Barron: And if you were to fully transcend, like you might call that awakening, you might call that bliss, you might call that nirvana, you might call that yoga. Hello and welcome to the Sutra Squad podcast brought to you by One Deep Breath. My name is Seth Barron and I'm here with the Sutra Squad, Sarah Page Hall. Greetings. And Sally Moore. Welcome. And Sally, what's one word that ⁓ describes how you feel right this moment? You know, I was thinking about it before we chat a tiny bit and I was feeling very scattered, and then I feel gr grounded and grateful. So scattered, grounded, grateful. It's a journey right there. I like that. Sarah Face. Isn't it just like the ⁓ sutra? Like when you Like literally though. It is when you put the dash between and it becomes one word? Yep. I like it. What am I? I am I'm I'm I'm booked and busy, but really happy to be booked and busy. It's that saying, what is it? Booked and blessed, baby. But you know, it's what they say. ⁓ do you ever think of how grateful you are to have the life you always dreamed of? I mean you know, there's there's craters, but By and large, I'm good. I was recently with somebody and I actually do you know that Alan Watts talk? The the the snippet? Doubt it. ⁓ it's called The Dream. And I'll send you both the link and maybe I'll try to remember to put it in the show notes. and he basically says, like if you were to ⁓ the I don't know if I should paraphrase it except that it's sort of like if you were to dream the Dream of your life, you would dream, you would eventually dream the life you're living now. I am living the dream. And so I don't know what that is in one word. ⁓ present. Blessed. Blessed. Okay, so I'm that we're very blessed because I always try to remember like ⁓ that we're so blessed because we are lucky enough that even in the Kali Yuga, even in an age of darkness. If you hear the sound of my voice, if you have come to these practices, you are truly blessed. You are the lucky. We are the lucky ones. Live in a time of darkness. We live in a time where wisdom is hard to come by in many circumstances. And we are blessed in that whatever dharma we have found, it has brought us to have some knowledge of these of this wisdom and to be on a path of awakening. And it's very hard to live a path, ⁓ you know. live in a sen in a state of awakening in something of a sleeping world. But, you know, as the as the Buddha say in the in the Noble Truths, that like the good news is that there is goodness within every single one of us. And the good news is that there is a path By which we can significantly reduce our suffering. And there is a path to, or maybe best better said, toward truth and toward a cessation or at least a alleviation of our suffering. And we are going to look at Yoga Sutra two twenty nine. Yummy. That really outlines this path of yoga. Ashtanga, the eight-limbed path of yoga. It is ⁓ specifically outlined in this verse. And so if we ⁓ as I like to try to do, just remember sort of the breadcrumbs of how we got here. The first chapter of the Yoga Sutra is the Samadhipada. And it's it right, it's a that we begin at the end so that we can begin and end, right? All in that coming together. Samadhi is the eighth limb, and you'll hear that word in our in our study today. And in the samadhi paddha, we learn the definition of yoga. We learn the sort of like high level of the practice of yoga, of abhyasa of practice, ⁓ said to be uninterrupted, passionately committed to from a place of deep love, that like our love of the practice is what should fuel the fire of our practice. And that it is to be sustained uninterrupted for a long time, a lifetime, or many lifetimes. And then Vairagya, that there's also this practice of detachment, of letting go of the of the outcomes of practice. And that it said that like the transcendence of the ⁓ material sensory gratification is where we start to like feel that like that ungripping of ⁓ of detachment. And we talked about the the essential attributes of the mind that we cultivate to preserve its innate serenity, Maitri, Karuna Mudito Upekshanam, friendliness, loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, or confidence or ⁓ centeredness. As the way in the face of pleasure and pain and vice and virtue that we preserve this innate serenity, like that the true nature of the mind is serene and it is preserved by the cultivation of these attributes. And then we get to the second chapter, which is where we are now, the sadhana pada. And sadhana means spiritual practice. And we begin with again another prescription of the path of action, Kriya Yoga, which is tapasvadhyaya ishvara pranidhana. ⁓ heat or friction or or burning desire or or austerity. ⁓ svadhyaya, the study of self through scripture to self, the to scripture to self, right? Like an infinite beautiful loop there. And that Ishvara Pranidana, like to surrender it to God. Also in the first chapter, there's this in the section where we talk about the recitation of Om, it's also said like As one path to knowing the divine is the sa is the sacred sound of om. And then another is to surrender it all to God. Ishvara Pranidhanadva. Like you could just let it all go and give it all to God. If it was that easy, everybody would do it. And some people do, right? Some people live in monastic ⁓ in in all faith traditions. People make the choice to live in a monastic way and truly surrender their life to be in service of the divine. The three of us are householders, so to say. Like we are. Working on it, but we live in the material world. And part of what we hope to offer is like our own journey of like how we do that. Like, how do we live this yoga and live out in the world? Perfectly imperfect, challenged, you know, on a journey of our own discovery. So that's this path of action that there are obstacles in the path, the klashas of of ignorance, ego, pleasure, pain, and clinging to life. The suffering that can be avoided is to be avoided. And that the so that the nature of that suffering, as we talked this about this last week, the nature of that suffering is in the confusion of the self and the not-self. Right? There's there's another verse that we didn't go into too much depth about, but in the description of Avidya. Which is the source of suffering. It's that misperception, that ignorance, the lack of spiritual insight, vision, or understanding. It is defined as mistaking the temporary for the permanent and the self for the not-self. We start to really have a sense that our practice calls us to cultivate this deep observation for discernment, to be able to say, okay, that's that's this and it's not that. Right. It's very similar if anyone has ever done a the like a meditation practice referred to as netti netti. Not this, not this, like not this, not that. Right. So all of that brings us to this moment in Yoga Sutra 229, where Master Patanjali outlines these eight limbs by which we may find our path through and to yoga. So I'm gonna Invite you all to sit up tall with me for a moment and maybe bring your hands together in front of your heart and just close your eyes. And maybe just cultivate a deep sense within you of gratitude that your path has brought you to this wisdom. that you somehow have the inclination toward exploration of practices that support your depth of discernment. And how lucky we are that we walk this path together. It has been walked by so many before us. And hopefully by our action we may inspire a few more to walk with us. Take a deep breath in. Let it go. And if you'd like, you can join me for the sound of om inhale. Mm-hmm. Yoga Sutra two point twenty nine. Yami Yama Pran. Latya dharana dana samadani. Yami sana prana. Pratya the Hara the Sama. Yama Sana Pran Pratya. Dhyana Samadhayo Savangani. So there's a few moments where the Sanskrit grammar brings the words together in an interesting way. For example, the first three of these limbs are yama, niyama, asana. So in this case, it that becomes niyamasana. The two a sounds at the end of niyama and the beginning of asana come together. Same with samadhi. Or samadhaya astau angani at the end that becomes samadhayosta vangani. And these are the eight limbs Yama, Ni Yama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Samadhi. And then Astau is eight and angani are limbs or parts or components. You missed one. You missed one. Did miss one? ⁓ Dahyana. Thank you. Dahana and Dahyana. The ha the harana, dahyana, samadhi. Thank you. So let's go through them one by one and say what they mean. What are Yama? I kinda like what Desikachar says in this. He he says Yama are attitudes towards our environment. Ooh, okay. And I kinda like that. I've never heard it I've never heard it said that way. I've heard a lot of other things, but I've never heard it our attitudes toward our environment. Mm. Yeah. I've also heard restraints, like the universal governing principles is another one. it's I I also often just think of it as like the moral observances, like how we are to be out in the world. And then the next is niyama. What are the niyama? And by the way, there are five yamas which we will go through ahimsa asteya, ⁓ excuse me, ahimsa satya. Asteya, Brahmacharya, and Aparigraha. ⁓ and we'll go with through all those means. There's five of these moral observances, and then the next are the niyamas. And what are the niyamas, Miss Sally? The way I remember Niyamas is I think of them as miyamas, like they're ways for me ⁓ to show up. But I saw I love the variety of slightly different translations. So from Jagannath Carrera, additional resolves. taken on by yogis to encourage spiritual growth. And then Ruben Vasquez said, Niyamas are attitudes to remove struggle and cultivate balance through opening your heart. Yeah. I love that part about opening your heart. That's beautiful. Well, and if I can step back one on the yamas, his translation of the yamas, I just really enjoyed it. It the yamas are wise ways of being that remove strain and cultivate harmony to open your mind. Mm. ⁓ that's such an interesting framing. Well, and I was thinking when we were talking earlier about learning things by heart, but you I do feel like there's a thing about opening your mind in order to learn things by heart. Like there is some working together, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, that's so interesting. I my acupuncture is hit up. he called a heart mind point, like a god, I just like felt it ⁓ here in my forehead and I like yelped off the table. so that's just fascinating. No, nothing is ever nothing ever not connected. I want us I want a full circle as well because I Desikachar I think he he threads this together nicely. The Yama is attitudes towards our environment, but then he says Ni Yama are attitudes towards ourselves. So he puts it out there and then he puts it back in and just simple, clean. Yeah. And that's the r exactly. It's like the yamas are, I think of it as like out in the world. And then knee is like ⁓ like in the same like prani dhana that we said, like that knee is ⁓ into or down. So it's like that's like where so when Sally said the mi yamas, I found that very endearing because it's like if the yamas are that Moral principles for how we are out in the world, the niyamas are the personal observances. Shoucha Santosha Tapas Vadhyaya Ishvara Pranitahana. Again, five. And we'll go in. We're gonna spend a week, we're gonna spend an episode in every single one of those. You got 10 weeks of goodness coming at you of the yamas and the niyamas. ⁓ I mean, it's so good. ⁓ because it's it's really fascinating. It's sort of like also just fascinating to notice too, how like. Different faith lineages or different spiritual lineages have very similar constructs. Like there's Ten Commandments and there are 10 of Yamas and Ni Yamas, right? And like ⁓ they're not exactly the same one-to-one, but you know, it they they they are these governing principles and observances. And it's so interesting that Master Patanjali starts by telling us, like, again, like, How to be in the world, how to be with yourself. And they're related. Like they're not like all of these eight limbs are both sequential and nonlinear. And they're well worth the study of them as individual practices, and they're deeply integrated. Like all of it, right? I was listening to a podcast last night from a Buddhist teacher, and he was saying like about this idea of like individuality and connectedness. And how like the Buddhists say, like, well, then what is the nature of the self and of the mind? And it is more than one and less than two. I love that. Like that this nature of the of like collective consciousness is that like we each have an individual sentience and it's a connected collective sentience. So it's like more than one because there's like my mind, your mind, and Sally's mind, but not really. And like on a spiritual plane, like there's no difference. It's just a different manifestation. Anyway. Can I share one more thing about from right when ⁓ Jagannath Carrera when he was talking about the Yamas? He said the Yamas are more like guides that nudge us toward the awakening of our innate inner guidance system. Our inner light, using the yamas as guide guiding lights, helps us to learn how to make wise decisions and takes take life. paths that bring growth and benefit. When our inner guidance system awakens, we find that memorized morals are not needed. Our vision will naturally express virtue itself. And then this was the lessons. Wise or virtuous decisions are those that bring the highest good for the most people. I love that because I was looking at that too, Sally. But but I really want to dive into that a little bit. Wise wise Or virtuous decisions are bring the highest good for the most people. Not most people, but the most people, which is what we are about. It's for the greater good, right? All of that. Yes. But I mean, and Baptist with a language is being up to something bigger than yourself. Bigger than yourself. There like if you think about your own journey in in Asana practice, which is the next of our of those limbs, if you take class with popular teachers and the classes are very full, at first it's like You feel a little like it's like kind of intense. There's like this much space. There's like an inch of space between the mats and you're like, somebody's gonna sweat on me. Like you start to realize and you both realize that like As much as this is for me, it is for like this satsang, this group that comes together, and that my presence and my the energy of my presence is also like of, by, and for this group. And so you start to realize that like showing up with a full heart means that you're happy to just like. move around a little bit of a weird way in and out of a pose because you're like physically in proximate, you're in proximate physicality to another person. And like if it's just a little sweat, it's a little sweat or like and you just kind of like stop caring because what you what you are there for is just as much that community as it is for yourself. And that the practice for yourself is to be of service, to be of better service to others. Like I I truly try to remember that bettering myself is as much for the cessation of my own suffering. But the point of that is so that I am a better me in service of the people who I am in connection with. Right. It's not just for my handstand and it's not just for my awakening or my enlightenment. It's so that by by by by hoping to have a clarity of these moral Principles, these and sort of regulating principles is that I show up as a better Seth when I think about how I live in so that the Yamas and the Niyamas then bring you to an asana, the third limb. They bring you to ⁓ and I'll take this one. Asana is ⁓ posture and it's it's seat, it's being being in a particular form. And like to abide, to be present in. And you'll notice, by the way, when you start listening to the pose name, so most of us come to discover yoga by way of asana, the physical practice. When you say I'm going to yoga, what you are, what you mean is that you are going to a studio to engage in the practice of yoga asana. And people always, when I Talk about why we do this and my yoga my my my yoga podcast. and I'll say, you know, there's 196 or 95, depending on the translation, verses of the Yoga Sutra. And do you want to guess how many of them are about physical practice? You've said this before. I can't remember. It's like three or four. I think it's three. It's three. It's three. It's three. Isn't that crazy? It's like a little bit more than one, like two percent. This text is about physical practice. And then if you think about how much of Western yoga shows up as physical practice. Interesting. Right? Interesting. I got a soapbox. I got a soapbox. I got a soapbox. So I know, I know, I know, I know. We gotta keep we gotta keep it moving though. You got eight limbs to talk about. But wait, can I really quick give a couple asanas that I came across? Sorry, I'll be really quick, but I just love when they're it's the same and slightly different, and I find it really helpful. So once again, Ruben Basque's asana are practices that optimize body function through postures. Movements and awareness of the interconnectedness among body systems and result in equil ⁓ equilibrium. Which I thought was amazing. And then one more, it's really quick, just a couple words. But asana from the secret power of yoga by Nishala Joidevi. Asana comfort in being, comma, posture. Comfort in being. I love that. Because I don't know I don't know sometimes if I'm comfortable saying Triangle. Or, you know, for me it's camel. For me, it's always camel. Every single chakra wide open. I you know, so where am I gonna find the comfort? Yeah. So okay, so asana is the physical practice, the posture, the seat, right? And then we get to pranayama. I think we're on thinking Sarah Page, it's your turn. Well, pranayama ⁓ does a kachar, it's the breath. It's the breath. And I love to say, ⁓ you know, basically it's it's the breath. for me personally, and I can't remember if this is exactly the the the the word the verbiage that we used, but breath is your most underrated and underused tool. ⁓ no, breath is your most powerful tool. It's your most powerful tool, but it's also but we never use it. We don't use it effectively. And that to me is one of the things that I love about breath. Is that we take it for granted until you can't use it anymore. And all of a sudden, when you can't breathe, think about how frantic you become. But it is your most valuable tool. It will get me through camel. It will get me through what is the first thing people say? What is the first thing people say when you get upset and you're triggered or ignited or something? Take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. Take a deep breath, right? Ancient wisdom inherent in the body. That's the name of my consult my coaching and consulting practice. One deep breath. One deep breath. One deep breath. So also just to note, ⁓ prana, prana is before, prana is ⁓ sometimes translated as breath, sometimes it's translated as life force or like like essential life energy. And then yama again, restraint or ⁓ so or like regulation. So it's the regulation, the intentional regulation of your breath. Even the ancients understood that breath is the only autonomic system of the body that can be brought. Under the direct control of the central nervous system. Right. So an autonomic system of your body is this like your body's natural wisdom of maintaining its own homeostasis. You breathe all day and you don't think about the breath. In the same way, your heart beats within your chest and you do not understand the sequence of the muscles that move blood from the atria to the ventricles to the through the valves, like of the whole. Thing. It's right. Or in inside your lungs, there's this like super complex chemical process going on as the diaphragm presses down to pull air into the lungs and then presses up to push the air out of your lungs. Like all that is happening, and it is not within your direct conscious awareness. And when you decide to place it within your awareness, you can choose to elongate or constrain or otherwise. Restrain intentionally your breath, which is like pretty cool if you think about it, like how wild it is that like you breathe all day. And then when you want to, you can pay attention to it and breathe in a very particular way. That's also where like yogis, it's the same process by which yogis, they're you know, it is said that there are yogis who can like stop the beating of their heart for minutes and minutes at a time, right? Hold their breath for like an hour, or do wild physical. Accomplishments. It's all this, right? So Yama Niyama, Asana Pranayama. So then we get to Pratyahara. Sally, your turn on this one. What is Pratyahara? I've always thought of it as ⁓ withdrawal of senses, but I liked Jagannath Carrera's management and withdrawal of senses. Cause I find I'm very good at pulling myself out. But the man I'm not managing it. So I do feel like that one I could use a little attention on. Yeah. So it's directly directing attention inward, clarifying senses, getting more what wise about what you're sensing. It's like the easiest way to describe this is like when you sit down to meditate, most people and in most practices you close your eyes. Right? Or even in asana practice, every asana has a drishti, a focal point. And the point of this of setting of gaze is like removal of other distraction, right? The point of sitting down to meditate and you sort of naturally have this inclination to close your eyes is to like remove distraction. That is a practice of pratyahara. Yeah. In our lineage, one of the things that I love is that we don't practice with mirrors, which is a withdrawal. I mean, and what Desika Char says, and I love this too, he says it's a restraint, not withdrawal, but a restraint of the senses, which I like that as well. But yeah, I mean, for me personally, Pratyahara is we live in a very noisy, noisy, noisy world. And it's something I haven't turned on my television. ⁓ I love you. I love you. I trot after you endlessly. She loud. She is loud. Well but I think it's I've realized that I don't turn on my TV. I haven't listened to a murder podcast in probably a couple of months for whatever reason. I know, I know, it's a step forward. And I but I I think that I am craving Pratyahara for me personally. I don't ⁓ I personally no shame I don't curate a playlist. ⁓ because it takes me out. Now I've been working on it, Seth, and I'll explain that to you later. But it's like it's you know Sarah Page and I have a long going debate about this. We have thoughts. And so ⁓ and you're right, no, nobody's right, everybody's right. You're right. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I find myself ⁓ Like when students close your like just the invitation to close your eyes with attention, that's where the management I think comes in because sometimes it's just like I don't want to deal, but then my mind is just filling the space when I could actually just look at a small point on the wall in front of me. So it's like, are you shutting a senses out? Or when I withdraw from a group when I feel with overwhelmed, it may appear. appear I'm getting quiet, I'm shutting down, but actually what I'm doing is getting more busy inside. And that one really caught me this time is like withdrawing the senses and with like management with it with intention. The part about intentionality, I think, I think that's really, really meaningful because it's like Pratyahara is not like like there are like sometimes you close your eyes in a pose as a way of like kind of stepping away from it. And this is, and again, this is so this is very this is where we go from Rima actually once gave my teacher Rima Rabath gave this beautiful teaching on Pratyahara as the bridge from the external to the internal. It's like the it's it what goes from without to within. And another way of thinking about this too is that of these eight limbs, there are actions and there are outcomes. So Pratyahara is like from the actions, right? Yama, niyama, asana, pranayama are all active, like effortful. Pratyahara is where we start to like turn, and then we get to ⁓ dhaharna, which means concentration. And it means like I sometimes say it means putting your attention. with intention. Because so much of our day-to-day life, our attention is just like hijacked by devices, by sensory stimulus, by by the bright shiny object that's right in front of us right now, or by these slabs of silicone that are designed to capture your attention and manipulate your emotions for commercial purposes. Like I I know a little bit about this one, a little bit enough to be dangerous, having had a career. Also, I said I live in the material world and I've had a career in the technology industry and I know a little bit about this. I was around for the some of the big mobile revolution. And and I, you know, I'm sorry to say, but like get curious about your relationship with your phone. It is designed, it's it's inten it is that is a feature, not a bug, as they say in tech circles. That it is designed to capture your attention and manipulate your emotions for commercial purposes. So box complete. That is so daharana is your attention. And then dahyana is is sometimes it's translated as meditation. There's ancient commentaries about this that I love that like if you think about water drips from a vessel is the harana. Drip attention, drip attention, drip attention. But if you were to pour oil from the vessel, or if you think about like you take like if you've ever like made a made a a a like like what's the word I want a like reduction. If you're cooking, you make a reduction like balsamic. Deep balsamic vinegar, when you just drip it in its natural state, it just sort of like drip, drip, drip, drip, drip. If you reduce it and you cook it and you simmer it and you reduce it, it starts to pour in a continuous steady stream or like the way oil. If you were to pour oil, it doesn't pour in drips, pours in a stream. And that's like going from the placement of attention to the sustained attention, from daharana to dahyana. Any other translations in there? I love what Desica Char says. ⁓ I've never heard this. This is why I'm really referencing him today. ⁓ the ability to develop interactions with what we seek to understand. I know I'm gonna chew on that. Because there's so much there. It's really good. It and it's it's simple, but it's so complicated. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's a lot. I mean, and this is a lot, right? Like again, like so this is a very internal process of like. You're you're like placing an object intentionally in the focal point of your attention. And then keeping it there. I really like ⁓ Reverend Jagnoff Carrera again on Diana. Meditation practice requires an inner environment of gentle gentleness and kindness. Yes, I just couldn't prentility, kindness, and nurturance. Self-discipline is not just a matter of willpower, but of heart power. Any practice of lifestyle change needs to be motivated and fed by love for what it is and for what it will bring. See, and I think that goes hand in hand with what Desica Char was saying. Yeah, of course. That's what's so much fun about bringing in these different translations is to see definitely similarities, but said in such poetic and beautiful different ways. And it always adds another wrinkle. We said this in the beginning, and hopefully you you dear listeners have had this experience for yourself. Like part of what I think we're really trying to do here is not offer one specific right answer, but talk about all these different ways to understand so that it becomes like of ⁓ how you understand it. So then the last is samadhi. Which of you wants to take us on ⁓ A little t on like a quick moment of like what does samadhi mean? I mean, I think traditionally absorption, like full absorption, but I did find ⁓ who's this from once again from Ruben Vasquez. ⁓ samadhi happens when you set aside your opinions and inner chatter so that you are fully integrated into pure awareness rather than gravitation toward your thoughts. opinions and beliefs. That goes hand in hand with what Desukachar says. Complete integration with the object to be understood. What I what I love is the way that it this is new to me. This ⁓ the way that Desukachar is looking at it is new to me. It's ⁓ a different, much more simple way. I think, and I like it, but he he stacks each dah you know dahyana The ability to develop interactions with what we seek to understand. And then it leads to samadhi, which is a complete integration with the object to be understood. It it just like the the barrier dissolves. And in the state of samadhi, it's like it's again, it's like more than one, less than two. Somewhere in there, right? You become more than one and less than two. And if you were to fully transcend, like you might call that awakening, you might call that. Lis, you might call that nirvana, you might call that yoga, right? The coming together. Right? Like one of like Rima said this before. Like, what is the goal of yoga? Yoga. Like that's it. And that, like all this stuff, right? The beginning, the end, Samadhi Pada, the first chapter. It's like that the whole thing just takes us all the way back around. And it's a long journey, but it always comes right back home to that deepest sense of truest self. And like here we are, back home, right? Back at yoga. It's just yoga. It's it's yoga and it's now. And it's yoga and it's now and it's yoga and it's now. And then the last two words, just astau is eight, and angani like limb or piece component. So that like these are the eight limbs of yoga. Yamani Yama Asana. Pranayama Pratyahara Dhaharana Dhyana Samadhi. So I think just for like a few more moments, it might be interesting for each of us to share. Like where and how did you first realize that yoga was more than just what you're doing on the mat? Like, where did that start to arise for you? I think pretty quickly for me. yeah, I mean, I didn't understand it, but I knew that it You know, and I don't think I didn't understand it. I just felt like I was a runner and my hip was hurting and my knee was hurting and so I went to a class 'cause I thought it would be stretching in nice hot room. And then I I think if you know the Baptist method lineage, ⁓ we do flip dog pretty early on. I got to flip dog and I left. I was like fleeing the room. I was like, What is this? And then a lot of it wasn't like this I want the fresh hell. I couldn't and and then I couldn't because I had yoga brain. I couldn't open the door. It was locked, so I couldn't figure out. Anyway, luckily, you know, the owner came out and sat on the ground with me. But I think in that moment I was deeply activated by just my body moving in ways that it had never moved before. I'm always laughing when people say, ⁓ yoga is a fad. And I'm like, I'll take my two thousand year old fad any day of the week. Thank you very much. And then some the you know When this was developed, they knew what they were doing, you know, there it was it was and I I am just so grateful to be a recipient of it. But of course it started with the asana, but the discomfort was what I leaned into the running out of the room, the literal removing myself from what is uncomfortable instead of leaning into it. But I think I knew pretty quickly then that that this was this was for me. Sally, how about you? Like where and how did you sort of come to know that there was more than just like this physical practice? I feel like I understand from my first few trainings, there was this. I felt like asana was the main thing. And then you were supposed to meditate and journal. But I didn't I thought, ⁓ there's these three things. And I didn't really see until we really started this through Africa Yoga Project during COVID. And really start. I don't know that I even owned a sutra's book before that. I know I had the Yama and Niyama's book, but I didn't understand the deep integration of these practices. And I and people said things that you're mad as a mirror, there were things said by teachers that I didn't understand. You know, and so I really think it was through. This Africa Yoga Project beginning of this study. And however many years into it, I can never remember. It just every year, it's crazy, right? Every year it just feels more potentially available and intertwangled. And what I love, I read somewhere about these eight limbs. ⁓ you know, we look at the tree. It's a tree, right? Generally, the the picture. Very common. It's like it Yeah, there's like a tree, like a an image of a beautiful tree spreading out. But somewhere in one of these books I was reading about under the earth. That's what I think we're unearthing as we study this. These deep, deep roots that travel far away and they hold each other up. And I just was like, every time I'm like and right now, actually, to be honest, I feel on the edge. Like I feel like finally it's starting to be an embodied thing. Like I I now can witness myself do my old habits. I can't always I can't always redirect, you know. but I guess in the witnessing, it's huge. And I kept saying that to myself. I had a lot of experiences last weekend of falling into my old habits for no one, there was no one to blame. It was all on me. I was in a lovely situation with people I loved deeply. There was no one being mean, nothing I could blame. And I was taking myself out anyway. But and then I thought, you know, when I'm mean, I can say to myself, I am, you know, I know this stuff. What am I doing? But then I loved in some of these, like, no, from your heart, be kind. So you have to recognize it before you can redirect it. And you're human. You are a human doing human life. And that's what this is a roadmap to. Is how to be deeply human in a human life in a dark, dark time, and to find the light in it. And ⁓ Sally, I think for both of us, Seth and I, because I know you'll agree, you are a deep light. You are such a light. Yeah, I'll just say like I I I sort of always had like a theoretical awareness that there was like You know, that like yoga as we experience it again as like asana was like I knew it had a context. I knew it was like part of something, but I was just like, but yeah, it's but like it didn't really it's I I got like a like a glimpse at it. I I went on a a weekend immersion with a teacher in Berlin actually, and they offered selections of the Yoga Sutra. That was my first exposure to studying them. That was that'll be 10 years ago next year. It was 2017. And I also remember even before that, like I'd I I started practicing with Rima in January of 2016. And then by that summer, I started ⁓ like it was really getting under my skin. And I remember we were chanting the guru mantra in class. Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru, Devo Maheshvara, Guru Sakshat, Parambrah, Tasma Sri Guru Vay Namaha, which means ⁓ there's a guru, and guru means ⁓ it means teacher, it means remover of darkness, it means ⁓ spiritual master in some contexts. And this one it means like that there's a teacher of creation, like there's a teacher found fr founded from creation, a teacher that sustains us, a teacher. Of transformation. And there's a guru nearby that we see, and a guru in the infinite beyond. And I humble myself before the before my gurus, where I offer my obeisances at the lotus feet of my guru. And I remember starting to really like think about like what does that mean? Like, like, what does it mean to think of like teachers? In that trimurti, like in that in that core expression between Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the sustainer, Shiva, the transformer. And then that like there's a guru known and a guru unknown, a guru seen and a guru in the infinite. And how there's these like small gurus and maha, big gurus. Like, and I was I I was I ended up driving my mom across the country. I mean, somehow we're talking about my ex husband. And I said, like, I don't know, like he was a guru. And what would it re and I started I started like it inspired me to start what I called at the time like acts of radical humility. Like, what if I put my ego aside and I just was like, what is this teaching me? And I just started asking myself, and then I was like, wait a minute, now I'm this guy talking about the mantra, we're chanting in class, and I was like, It was scary. I didn't know who that was. Like I didn't know who that was. I didn't like and if you would have told me cut to ten years later, and now I'm right, I'm on a now I've like studied Sanskrit and I'm an advanced certified instructor and I have a podcast about the yoga sutra, I would have I might have run away screaming. But I wouldn't have it any other way. And we're lucky. ⁓ now, lucky that exactly we got here now. And there are some times too where I feel like, God, I got here so late. And I gotta like catch up, make up for lost time, right? And then I gotta remember, like, no, I got here exactly on time. So yeah, so it was really this idea that like, and I just I just kept pulling the thread. I just kept pulling the thread and I just kept challenging myself, like, how do I humble myself to this? How do I like what is it like to live this wisdom? Even in small, and actually as I'm somebody who in the past has tended and I still do sort of like bigger, like big moves. I'm a big thinker. And it's harder for me to slow down. and I I know I got into a fight with my therapist about being told to slow down. ⁓ So it always it always makes Sarah Page laugh at me. It wasn't in the big moment. It was actually in small moments when I started to think like there's like a yogic wisdom that I remember, like something I remembered one of my teachers saying, or I remember from a mantra that we were chanting in class, or I remember hearing this verse, like, and that feels like maybe it's useful for what I'm doing right now. Something that I think we all too, like this is part of why we're here, is that part of what dissolves is this artifice of. In here out there. This is something Bethany says like in tra in teacher training. Like there is no in here out there. The person who shows up on the mat and the person who gets up in front of the room to teach and the person who goes down the street and goes against gets a cup of coffee, same person. All of them. All of it is yoga. And like really starting to think about living your life as yoga. And ⁓ and that's when you start falling down the rabbit hole. That's when you s like but what's amazing is like that feels like falling in love. Exhilarating and terrifying. It feels like like, you know, especially for those of us who maybe grew up in w in in Western Abrahamic faith traditions, it's like, wait a minute, it's like it's really like I know there have been moments and there will continue to be where like these practices rock. Me to the core and challenge me to really ask myself like, who are who are you? Are you who you say you are? Are you truly committed to living this? Messy, creative, courageous, and with an imperfect knowledge that hopefully becomes a little bit more. Closer to something that could be called truth. I love what Jessica Char he wraps all of this up and it goes to what you're saying, Seth. He says the order of presentation is from the external relationship to a very intense and refined state of introspection. This order, however, is not necessarily the sequence for practice. He says there are no set rules or definitive roots. Whatever is the route most suited for you or for the he says, let me take that back. Whatever is the route most suited for the individual to reach the state described in Sutra one point two, Yogacitavritin Rodhaha, cessation of the mind, should be followed. They all develop simultaneously as the individual progresses. We are never any one of us on the same path. We might be on a path but not at the same speed, not at the same route. And basically what he's doing is giving us just an enormous amount of grace. And he references Patanjali. He says, you know, there are no set rules or definitive roots. Whatever is the best for you is, and that is yoga 1.2, the cessation of the the virtue. And I just am like, well, thank you so much, Mr. Desika Char, because thank you for giving me the grace to take it at my speed. I it what you said, Seth, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. In this moment, no further, no, no far behind. And I think what we tend to do too is the three of us are deep thinkers. We we all we we dive into I quit my job to stay in this study. I I really did. I I and because it was at that moment, I was like, this is this. And so and I didn't like my job. It wasn't serving me at all. And I figured I can do it. It's COVID time, let's do it. And I did, and I never regretted it. I had come from a place, a big place of, you know, stupid. I'm not smart enough. Seth is so much smarter than me. So, you know, or my brother is such but you know, we see really deep teachers, people, Rema, Bethany, Sean, Baron, all of these page, these people that we really do admire and who have been doing the work for so long. But they're where they're supposed to be and I'm where I'm supposed to be. And that's what he's saying. And so kind of like, I'm not too old for this. I'm exactly the right age for this. And every single one of you listening is exactly like in the right place. Like what if, what if that this what if this path is being presented to you exactly as you are capable of and need and like as it's accessible for you to receive it? And as a way of thinking, yeah, at exactly the right time. And as a way of starting to wrap up, like we're gonna spend the next good chunk of time really going deep. And we're gonna look at each of the yamas and each of the niyamas and each of these limbs of yoga. And part of what I hope for each and every one of you, or my my dear wish for each and every one of you, for myself, for for my sutra squad, beloved sutra squad. ⁓ and the extended beloved sutra squad out there who listens. We're big in Rhode Island. We're big in Rhode Island is that apparently hey, what's up, Rhode Island? Is truly that like we we together Find find a new way through. And I'm that it's both like deeply, deeply, deeply personal and feel so connected with each other. Cause I think it's like both are true. Right. It's like it's more than one and less than two. Like I think it's right. Like this path is more than one and less than two. That is like that is this path of yoga. There is more than one and there are less than two. Because it's the same eight limbs. And each of us will find them in the moments that we are ready and ripe. And like, you know, the fruit can never, like it's like ⁓ Baron says, don't rush the process. And there's all these yogic w points of wisdom, like, you know, like Tiknatan says, no mud, no lotus. The lotus, you cannot force the lotus to open. It will flower like when it's ready. You know, like the fruit on the vine is done when she's done. And so it's like you've you've arrived here just in time at the exact right time. And and like, and just know that like whether this is the first time or the not first time you're studying this, it's the right time. And and like there will like if you trust the process of it, it will unfold to you exactly as you need it. And you will receive the wisdom you need when you need it. You will receive the wisdom you need when you need it. Ram Das gives a beautiful talk about how, like, in one of his recorded lectures, about how like we're gonna keep getting the same lesson. You're gonna keep getting the same lesson until you learn it. And only then will the next lesson be revealed to you. Right? So you're gonna hear these eight limbs and you're gonna have a response. And some of them you're gonna be like, ⁓ and some of them you're gonna Embrace lovingly. And some of them you're gonna feel are confusing and provoking you and like poking you. And some of them are gonna feel like they're lighting you up and and and blowing up your mind and your heart. And like all of it. Like get into all of it because there's never truly, there has never been a better and more important time. And it is a tremendous service you're doing to the for the world, for yourself to be of service to the world than to study. this path. I I I believe that in every fiber of my being. ⁓ it's why I love teaching this. It's why I love studying this. It's why I like it's it's why why like we're again like we're not making any money at this podcast, my loves. We are doing it purely for love and why it feels like the best heart work I I have done in ⁓ maybe in my life. All right, let's do a fast round of teaching tips and inquiry. ⁓ let's do a teaching tip first. ⁓ who wants to start? I like Pratyahara might be, you know, in this moment of my life, probably w one of the most prescient. I prescient I like it. I think because I have a lot of noise around me. I really like it. And I try to bring it into class a lot. So I would love for people to try And it goes to Pratyahara. Asking your class not to close their eyes. Keep the eyes open the entire time. Keep themselves present. Yeah. I find in the room. Yeah, stay in the room. Stay in the room. Stay on your mat. Stay on your mat, not your friend's mat, not anybody else's mat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your mat. You know, you can speak to Drishti. You can speak to, you know, all of those kinds of things. And but it will be notice what happens when you shut your eyes. Where do you go when you shut your eyes? Because you go somewhere. And that goes for the ohm at the beginning. If you give an ohm at the beginning, and if you don't, I suggest that you do. It unites a class. But keep the the just a soft gaze on the fingertips. Don't close the eyes. Gorgeous. Sally, what's a teaching tip from you for this week? So I think what I'm really working on with these ⁓ eight limbs is stretching and softening, like taking it and not so I was thinking about stretch and soften, and I thought physically stretch your fingers and your toes. And soften your joints. So I was going with that for, but then stretch and soften your mind, stretch and soften your heart, reach for and move towards showing up fully in the moment through stretching and softening. Stretch and softening a little bit. Stretching and softening. We'll talk about it. I think my teaching tip is just like invite students into the curiosity about what they why why are they really here? Why are you really here? You could do a lot of things for a workout. Why are you here? Ragunath said this in a podcast once that I heard that I loved that the yoga mat, and maybe just introduce the idea that the yoga mat is the welcome. Right. If you think about the welcome mat, it's at the entrance to the home. And then there's all this stuff beyond. So like, don't see the yoga mat as the destination. The yoga mat is just the at the door. It's just at the door. And like, take the next step. Don't worry about 20 steps from now. Just take one next step. And try to cultivate and feel into a little bit of curiosity that these asana, and that if you come for asana, wonderful. I love teaching asana. And it is just the beginning. And like just maybe even reminding students, like, just so you know, there's all this more. There's all this more. And when you're ready for it, it's here for you. And what you'll feel. If you find the right place, space, and teachers, is that it doesn't feel like anybody teaches you anything. It actually just feels like you're remembering something you already know. What's the point of inquiry, Sally, that ⁓ that this that this conversation has has inspired for you and that you might want to inspire other people to consider? So the inquiry I've been working with is how do you interact with yourself and others? How do you hold yourself When you're feeling overwhelmed? Are your practices moving you forward or are they holding you back? And do you have a regular practice which improves the way you live your life? Yeah, which is by the way, like nothing more yogic than that. Right. And like Asana is like just like every asana to dasana and every asana, right? Like it's like, yeah. So that's beautiful. ⁓ Sally or Sarah Page, what's ⁓ some what's some inquiry from you, my love? I'll be Sally for a minute. If I'm lucky. ⁓ if I'm lucky. I would love for somebody to ask, and I this wasn't where I was gonna go, but this is where we are. where do you feel like you're too late and why? Ooh. You know, consider you're not. I know. I know. I know. Well, I mean That's great. Yeah. We don't have enough time. Right. It's simple. Just where do you feel like you're late and why? And consider you're not. Yeah. I think my inquiry ⁓ Just be like to notice in this path, like in these limbs of like what do you feel, what's attractive and what's scary, or what do you lean away from? Like what do you lean toward and what do you lean away from? Like every just like in just like in a series of asana and a series of yoga like physical practices, there's poses that you will love. Right. So like I'm super bendy because I have hypermobile joints. And the way that like the humorous, clavicle, and scapula. Connect allows me to move my shoulder with a lot of range of motion. And like the way that the head of my femur bone fits into the acetabulum of my pelvis allows me to like, you know, put my foot behind my head and like, you know, do some of that wacky stuff. That feels great in my body. And then if you were to tell me to do purvatanastana, which is like reverse plank and like got to get my feet onto the ground, it is absolute full torture. And then there are it is torture. torture. ⁓ for whatever reason, right? Like because my the arches of my feet are just built differently and like it's like it's hard to like in theory, because in Purvatanasana, which is like if you, you know, if you're seated in like Dandasana, seated staff pose, and you take your hands about six inches back and then just press down, extend up and lengthen the body in like that upward plank, theoretically your toes are touching the ground. And I've had teachers come over and assist me into it, and I'm like, ⁓ It's just, it's just excruciating. I don't I mean not like it's not like sharp and awful, but it just it does not feel easeful in my body. And then there's other people who you like see in class and they're just like and they look blissful. So it's like every one of us has poses that like feel blissful and feel torturous. Every one of us has reactions to these. Eight limbs that some of which feel blissful and delicious, and some of which feel torturous. Invite it all in. Stay. Obviously, don't hurt yourself. ⁓ right. but lean into the discomfort. and know that discomfort and suffering are different. Okay. I like again, it's so, it's like it's so yoga nerdy, but like I am so. So like gooped excited for this phase of our study because we're gonna be in this now for a minute. ⁓ through the summer and then some. We're gonna really be exploring the 10 limbs, the yamas, and the niyamas. We're gonna really dig into all the juicy, delicious goodness of it. And like like again, you're right on time. Welcome home. You're right on time. You're welcome. Like, welcome home. We're so glad you're here. ⁓ I'm so glad you're here, Sally. I'm so glad you're here, Sarah Page. Thank you. Grateful. Thank you. Yeah. This makes this, this is like, it's just, it's rich and delicious in the best way. In that healthy way. Anyway. I do. And you know, we've gone we've gone through this how many times and I still can't get enough. No, I still can't get enough of it. I just said I was I was literally talking to a cab driver this week. I do, I talk about this shit. I have no shame. I talk about yoga all the time. ⁓ you ask, like, don't ask me, don't ask me about the weather. Like, if I can talk about yoga, I want to talk about yoga. And I remember saying how like ⁓ I feel like, you know, I've had 10 years now of deep practice and like ⁓ my first teacher training was in 2018. So now eight years of exposure to you know bigger ideas of yoga. And ⁓ I feel like I'm just starting to understand it. And I think there was a time in my life when that would have freaked me out and I would have felt like so unaccomplished. And now I feel like, no, maybe I'm like again, like maybe I'm just starting to appreciate the truth. And this is like this is the biggest stuff to understand. And it is a lifetime of practice, and that like the letting go. Is of thinking that my knowledge of it could be perfected. You're at the top of one mountain, you're at the bottom of another. Right. The mountain with no top. You know, it's, it's, it's like in that again, and instead of that ⁓ terrifying, like that exhilarates me. Like, what an incredible gift to have a lifelong practice of studentship where like the point isn't to get it right or to understand it in fully, it's just to understand it a little bit more clearly. Little bit at a time. So lit up to be with you, so lit up to be with all of you listening and watching. ⁓ what a joy, what a gift. We are the lucky ones, we are the blessed ones. And we will be with you again next week. For now, we'll say thank you so much. If you have found benefit from these words, please consider liking, subscribing, give a comment, share it with a friend. and and ⁓ now I'm gonna say thank you and good night, Sarah Page. Good night. I love you, Seth. I love you, Sally. And Sally. Same. Love you both. Love you both. Love you listeners and watchers. We'll see you again in another episode of the Sutra Squad very soon. Bye bye. Bye bye.