Sage Patanjali says it succinctly in his seminal work, Yoga sutras, when he proclaims, ‘Yogas-chitta-vritti-nirodhah!
It means, yoga is stilling the mind of its fluctuations. And, yoga means becoming one (with universal consciousness)!
The mind is not an organ. According to yoga, mind is a sheath, a ‘body’. It can be visualised as a subtle body that envelopes the physical body. There are five sheaths or bodies that comprise human life – annamaya kosha, pranamaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vijnanamaya kosha and anandamaya kosha.
The mind is clearly affected by emotions which are stored in the body and triggered by the senses, situations, incidents, experiences, memories, thoughts etc which cause a rush of desires, reactions and feelings.
The mind is closely connected to the ego, which is basically a sense of separation. The ego and the mind’s sense of separation is caused by a lack of wisdom and knowledge.
Yoga helps to overcome this sense of separation through the eight limbs – yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyan and samadhi.
Yoga prescribed shat kriyas, or six cleansing practices:
Neti (nasal cleansing), Dhauti (alimentary canal cleansing), Basti (colon cleansing), Nauli (abdominal organ massage), Trataka (eye cleansing through intense gazing), and Kapalbhati (frontal brain area cleansing through breath).
While each of these plays an important role in cleansing, in my understanding, the role of breath is critical here.
When the pranamaya kosha (energy body) is deeply accessed and cleansed through powerful and esoteric breathing practices like SWA-TANTRA Kriya, it hacks directly into the vijnanamaya kosha.
Google explains, ‘Vijnanamaya kosha, the layer of wisdom and intellect, is activated through practices that cultivate single-pointed attention, self-inquiry, and discernment, such as deep meditation, contemplative self-study (Svadhyaya), mantra chanting, and advanced breathwork (pranayama). These practices quiet the mind’s chatter, allowing inner wisdom and clarity to emerge, helping one to distinguish truth from illusion and connect to universal consciousness.’
In many ways, a powerfully activated pranamaya kosha (naturally, including the sushumna nadi) is a unique and special secret pathway to vijnanamaya kosha where clarity, inspiration, discernment and insights help one quickly overcome the drama created by the physical and mental bodies…
As the vijnanamaya kosha brings its shower of insights, clarity, discernment and inspiration one is able to take control of their mind and subdue the role of the ego.
It helps ‘bypass’ some of the practices such as yama, niyama, pratyaha, asana, dharana, dhyan etc as the attention on breath and the clarity that comes from vijnanamaya kosha tune one from within to be sensible in their choices and conduct of life. Attention on breath helps with both pratyahara and dharana as breath begins to act like an inner guiding light.
Powerful pranayama techniques then help one access and experience states of Ananda…
As one begins to experience inner states of Ananda, independent of external situations, it’s a matter of choice how deep and often one wishes to dive into Ananda…
– rajyogi (rajesh kanoi)
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