Tag: Vinyasa Yoga

Yoga and the Subconcious

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Churnings of the Mind: What is Chitta Vritti?

Most people in the West associate yoga with the practice of asana– the well-known postures that yogis contort themselves into. There are many obvious benefits to Asana practice and health benefits of yoga in general: it relaxes and strengthens the muscles, increases flexibility, deepens breathing capacity, helps correct posture and generally supports the health of the spine and rest
of the body.

But the practice of yoga is designed to work on multiple levels. As you are relaxing and strengthening your physical body, the practice of yogic breathing and concentration begins to access the subconscious mind, and thus begin the subtle but powerful emotional and spiritual transformations that yoga students talk about.

The Subconscious and the Monkey
In Yogic philosophy, human suffering originates in ´chitta vritti´, which roughly translates as ´the churnings of the mind´. Mental or cognitive energy was understood by ancient yogis to be an incredibly powerful force, but one that can cause deep habits. These habits can often distort reality.

These habits move from the conscious mind : “I smoke joints on the weekends, because I enjoy it and it feels good”, into the subconscious mind: “If I don´t smoke a joint at night, I get anxious and can´t sleep.” In the subconscious mind, thoughts can become inaccessible, entrenched and sometimes unhealthy.

Obsessional or addictive thinking, unquestioned likes/dislikes, unhelpful attachments and negative thinking are all symptoms of the subconscious contorting itself into specific forms and then being unable to return to its original fluid, responsive state. As our thoughts jump from topic to topic or branch to branch, much like a monkey, it is easy to become misdirected, confused and overwhelmed.

This is where hatha yoga and vinyasa flow yoga comes in. These classes and our new Hidden Language Yoga class are all designed to help discover the power of the subconscious mind so that we can ultimately use it for good in our lives and in the world.

What is Drishti- Part 1

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Drishti´ is a Sanskrit word that has several levels of meaning. Most simply, it can be translated into English as ´the gaze´. In Asana practice, your Drishti is the place where your eyes rest- looking forward over your middle finger in Warrior II, for example, or to the navel in Downward Dog. In this sense, Drishti is a very tangible and useful anatomical tool. Where your gaze rests is a pretty good indicator of the line your neck and spine are following.

Often yoga teachers will remind you of your Drishti point during classes so that you can self-correct your pose. Sometimes teachers will also ask you to direct your gaze into your body, or bring your Drishti point inside. Traditionally, Drishtis are external, but the concept behind an internal focus point is just the same- it helps you to quiet the mind, increases concentration and relaxation, and allows your attention to flow into whatever you are focusing it on.

Each Asana has a Dristhi point. All in all, there are 9: both thumbs, the tip of the nose, the palms of the hands, to the sky, to the left and right side, the navel, the toes and the middle of the eyebrows. Practicing a variety of Drishtis helps to strengthen the muscles and nerves around the eyes, as well as providing a point of focus and concentration in each posture. Dristhi is associated with the fifth limb of yoga, Pratyahara, which concerns the use of the senses. Drishti can be practiced meditatively as a way of literally ´seeing what is right in front of you´ and focusing the senses on reality and away from illusions and neuroses.

One of our main goals in our Berlin yoga classes is to educate people about the benefits of our practice. We believe that by making yourself more centered and focused you are better equipped to make an impact in the world around you. For more info about our Hatha Yoga in Berlin or Vinyasa Yoga, check out our yoga in English schedule.

Accessible language in Yoga

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Using accessible language to teach yoga in English makes yoga accessible to all cultures and peoples.

photo by Fern “Language can be a gate from which to liberate your thoughts and ideas”

When most people think of yoga in Berlin, they probably conjure up an image of a body contorted into wildly flexible shapes, or perhaps a solitary figure meditating. They might associate the practice of yoga with chanting, or maybe with the sound of a Tibetan singing bowl. But rarely do people consider language as a part of the practice–and almost never do they associate yoga with jokes, stories or slang.  Perhaps this is because of our cultural heritage in the West around spiritual practices. We expect them to occur in a sacred domain, and we can’t imagine something as everyday as language being involved. There is definitely a time and a place for silence, but I feel, actually, that language is an  incredibly powerful and important tool, in yoga and everywhere else in life, too! Teaching yoga in English has taught me  a lot about cultural translation–certain concepts, which have a lot of different layers of meaning in Sanskrit, have been ‘shorthanded’ into English and lost much of their content. The clearest example of this is the word ‘Karma’. English just doesn’t have the depth and breadth and subtlety of Sanskrit when it comes to discussing states of consciousness (though, to give credit where credit’s due, it’s a great language to talk about getting drunk in–so many adjectives!). This presents a very difficult challenge: how do you translate yoga ideas and yoga techniques from one language/culture to another?

It gets even more complicated in our yoga lessons, because we teach Vinyasa Yoga and Hatha yoga in English in Berlin, therefore often teaching yoga to non-Native English speakers. Thankfully, yoga concepts are often extremely simple. Not easy, but simple. This is where jokes, stories and slang come in–they make people feel comfortable, and comfort is half the battle when you’re trying to learn something new. They also make it a lot more difficult to take yourself too seriously! I really feel that accessible language is incredibly important in a practice like yoga.