I have the great honor of being able to teach the basics of yoga philosophy a couple of times a year in various 200hr teacher trainings. This allows the content to stay very fresh in my mind.
When something is reinforced enough, it becomes harder to ignore, so the knowledge ultimately keeps me accountable to make sure that I am living my yoga every day, in every way. I also try to incorporate different philosophical topics in my weekly asana classes so that my regular students get little morsels of what else the practice has to offer beyond the physical benefits. I fall in love with each sutra all over again each time I revisit it and can see how new life experiences apply to the lesson.
However, I find I always come back to the kleshas as the most impactful and powerful concept. The kleshas provide a logical, practical way of looking at the obstacles in your life and seeing what’s really going on. It allows us to take the emotion out of it and just looking at each situation objectively, which is so helpful and important.
A short overview of the kleshas can be found here.
What’s your favorite yoga philosophy topic? I really want to know!
Recent Comments