Ishvarapranidhana On The Mat

Ishvara pranidhana a phrase which means devotion to the divine encourages us to connect with the holy on a daily basis and to understand our place in the universe.

Ishvarapranidhana on the mat.

Kriya yoga is active rather than passive. The tenth virtue in this 10 part blog series and the theme for october at we is ishvara pranidhana surrender. Ishvara pranidhana is not about what your yoga can do for you but about approaching your practice in the spirit of offering. Ishvara pranidhana surrender every month we highlights a specific virtue from the yogic code of ethics as outlined by patanjali in the yoga sutra the most widely regarded text on yoga.

When i was an ashtanga student in mysore i loved walking the several blocks to pattabhi jois s yoga shala school for 4 30 a m. Isvara pranidhaha in your day to day life. Yoga in action off the mat. It conjures thoughts of losing a battle or becoming powerless.

In our daily life off the mat isvara pranishana can be seen as less of a devotional dedication or a surrendering and more of an opening up to what is and instead of fighting against life s twists and turns remaining open to experiencing life as it unfolds. In the quiet darkness before dawn the side streets would be dotted with the neighborhood s sari clad women kneeling upon the. The strengths of tapas spiritual discipline svadhyaya self study and ishvara pranidhana the ultimate surrender to the divine make for a solid yogic action plan. I find it interesting that kriya yoga one of the most active forms of yoga takes place off the.

An ancient hindu text the bhagavad gita tells the story of arjuna a warrior who becomes paralyzed with indecision on the battlefield. In fact the yoga sutras translator sri swami satchidananda says that if you can master this one there s no need to read any more of the sutras because you ll already have attained samadhi the state of oneness which is the final limb of yoga. In patanjali s yoga sutras it means committing one s life and one s yoga practice to the lord or spiritual focus of choice. Remaining fixed and rigid in our conditioned patterns habits and limitations only.

Self surrender ishvara pranidhana surrender is a word that i love to talk about in yoga class but it s not a very popular word in the mainstream.