Thoughts On Teaching Yoga and
Philosophy
by
Anne-Marie Schultz, PhD
IYASCUS Philosophy Chair
Associate Professor: Baylor University - Department of Philosophy
Philosophy Blog Post
- I had a chance to study with
both Chris Saudek and Patricia Walden at this year's
- Intermediate Gather at the River Retreat. Patricia
was recovering from an illness
- and Chris stepped in for the first two days. It has
been several years since I've
- studied with Chris and it was really a delightful
surprise.
-
- Each of the first two afternoons, Chris lead us
through a few restorative poses to
- create the space or create the pallet for pranayama.
Actually, she used Prashant's
- imagery of creating a culture in the body and mind
for pranayama to happen, for
- its effects to grow within us. Before this
restorative/pranayama practice, we spent
- some time talking about Sutras 1.30 and 1.31, which
lists the antarayas or
- interruptions/disturbances to yoga practice and their
accompanying effects.
-
- "These disturbances are disease, idleness, doubt,
carelessness, sloth, lack of.
- detachment, misapprehension, failure to attain a base
for concentration, and
- instability. They are distractions for the mind."
(1.30)
-
- "Suffering, dejection, trembling, inhalation, and
exhalation accompany the
- distractions." (1.31)
-
- In his commentary to the Yoga Sutras, Edwin
Bryant refers to Sankara saying
- that these are called "disturbances" because they
move, aya, and make a gap,
- antara, in one's practice. In other words,
these disturbances are the things that.
- keep our practice from being long and uniterrupted
naiantarya (1.31). It is
- important to note that they are interruptions of the
mind more than of the body.
- Even an interruption like disease, which may seem
physical, isn't in and of
- itself an interruption. Rather, the attitude we take
with respect to our disease
- is more what creates the interruption. A lot of
times, it is the manifestation
- of our ego that creates these mental disturbances. In
fact, another point Chris
- made in both asana and pranayama class had to do with
asmita, the ego.
- Though the sutras make clear that avidya,
ignorance is the breeding ground
- of all the other kleshas (II.4), she suggested that
in daily life and practice
- the biggest obstacle is ego. She focused on that
point a lot as we were in
- supta padangusthasana. She challenged us to consider
what makes us bring
- the top leg closer to the torso at the expense of the
bottom leg losing its
- grounding? What makes us truly not hear a teacher's
instruction? Ego. Simply
- put, we live in the world created by the confines of
our identification with the
- ego and it's associated judgements. Now ultimately,
that ego misidentification
- arises from avidya, from our mistaking the ego for
the purusha itself, but generally
- when we are stuck in the muck of prakriti it is
really more the ego at work than
- avidya.
- As I was thinking about these disturbances really
being disturbances of mind,
- I was also reading Edwin Bryant's commentary about
avidya. I noticed that he
- points out that avidya is not simply not
having knowledge of what is real but is
- itself its own state of mind. Differently put, it is
not simply that we don't know
- but that we live in the state of not knowing. I think
that is true of the antarayas
- as well. Particularly doubt (samsaya) and bharanti
darsana (false perception).
- This yogic insight reminds me of Aristotle's point
about the cultivation of moral
- virtues. According to Aristotle, virtue arises
through a process of habituation.
- We do acts like the yamas and the niyamas,
but the virtue does not abide in
- the doing of the acts but rather in how the doing of
the acts shape our character.
- How we know that we have attained a virtue is that we
take pleasure in the act
- because we have become become the sort of person that
is virtuous. Pleasure is
- not quite the right word, due to the various
connotations of the word in English.
- However, it is still a good word to use because
Aristotle believes that the good is
- the most pleasant thing, though he along with Plato
and Patanjali make clear
- that pleasure is not the good. I think Aristotle's
point about our state of character
- changing, ie. the attitude we have with respect to
the sort of person we are and
- the sorts of activities we engage in affirms what
Patanjali means by becoming
- firmly established in each of the yamas and
niyamas. When we are firmly
- established in each of these actions, the fruit of
the action comes. The fruit
- becomes part of the pleasure.
- Chris asked us a rather challenging question in this
regard. "Don't you feel like
- you don't have as much fun as you used to?" We
laughed because it was sort of
- true. I think about that a lot living in Austin; the
live music capitol of the world,
- home of numerous eating and drinking establishments
offering enticing happy
- hour specials and the like. I am just not the sort of
person that does that anymore.
- I'm at yoga class or practice during happy hour, I
don't stay up late enough to go
- to a live music show and if I did, I wouldn't be in
the appropriate state of mind
- and body to have a good practice the next day. My
culture is very different. Chris
- did point out that perhaps we have more true
enjoyment but less "fun". Indeed,
- practice and the fruits of practice become most
pleasant rather than the pleasures
- of the past.
-
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